Majority of university teachers
yesterday voted to end the four-month-
old strike that has grounded the public
university system in the country.
About 120 chapters of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held
congresses at the
various institutions
and voted to suspend the strike, but
insisted that the federal government
begins to fulfil its promises
immediately.
The vote is expected to be ratified by
the national executive council of ASUU
at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
ASUU executives will then meet with
President Goodluck Jonathan the next
day where the deal will be affirmed and
the strike called off thereafter.
ASUU has been on strike since July over
government’s inability to implement an
agreement signed in 2009 aimed at
improving infrastructure and human
capital.
However, during recent negotiations,
President Goodlcuk Jonathan agreed to
provide N1.3tr in the next six years and
the balance of N62bn earned allowance
to each university.
Reports from ABU Zaria, Bayero
University Kano and the Uthman
Danfodio University yesterday said that
the lecturers were willing to resume
work, but urged the federal
government to live up to its pledges.
But at the University of Jos, the ASUU
members voted in favour of
continuation of the strike for the reason
that the meeting between the national
leadership of the union and President
Goodluck Jonathan last week did not
achieve anything meaningful.
In a vote to that effect, 194 members
voted for the strike to be sustained
while 80 voted in favour of a
suspension.
Addressing the congress in ABU Zaria,
ASUU chairman of the chapter, Dr.
Muhammad Kabir Aliyu, said his
members would agree to call off the
industrial action on condition that
President Jonathan pays all the financial
commitments he has made to the
universities for this year.
“In ABU, we have agreed with the shift
in the timetable where the federal
government would make available
N220bn each year for the next six
years. They (FG) said they are going to
open a special account with the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for that purpose.
“However, members gave a condition
that all the money promised for this
year must be made available and
accessible by the universities. This
includes the N200b promised for the
universities this year and the balance of
the N62b earned allowances for various
university staff,” Dr. Aliyu said.
From Usmanu Danfodiyo University
Sokoto, Secretary of the chapter, Malam
Bashir Muhammed Achida, said ASUU
members there unanimously voted to
end the strike during their meeting at
the main campus of the university.
“We all voted in favour of calling off the
strike as a sign of respect to President
Goodluck Jonathan. We were moved by
the kind of commitment he had shown
during hours of meeting with him last
week,” he said.
On the modality used at reaching the
decision, he said the issue was put to
vote and that all members agreed that
the strike should be suspended.
“By God’s grace, it would be over by
Thursday or Friday so that normal
activities would resume at campuses by
next Monday,” he said.
At the Bayero University Kano,
hundreds of ASUU members decided to
accept the offer of the federal
government. Our correspondent
gathered that lecturers at the BUK held
a meeting at the old site of the
institution yesterday where the
government’s offer was discussed.
A senior lecturer said the meeting was
attended by over 300 lecturers from all
the campuses of the institution and
lasted for four hours with the lecturers
deliberating on the offer.
When contacted on phone, the
chairman of ASUU, BUK chapter,
Comrade Mahmud Lawal confirmed that
the meeting was held but that the
outcome was not for the public.
“Yes we had a meeting but it is not
meant for you the press or the public.
It is for our national leadership. There
was nothing like voting at the meeting
on the ongoing strike,” he said in the
interview.
However, ASUU members at the
University of Jos said after hours of
debate by those for and against the
strike, it was obvious that the meeting
with President Jonathan did not achieve
much.
Those who spoke in favour of the strike
to continue wondered why the strike
should be called off on the basis of
pleas and verbal promises by President
Jonathan when the government ‘is
reputed for not honouring agreements’.
They were said to have argued that the
suffering by students and members in
the last four months would be a waste if
something concrete did not come out of
the strike to improve the situation in
universities.
However, those who want the strike to
be ended spoke passionately on the
need to consider the impact of the
strike on students and the gesture from
President Jonathan who met personally
with ASUU leaders and pleaded with
them to suspend the strike.
The chairman of the Unijos chapter of
ASUU, Dr. David Jangkham who
announced the result of the meeting
said the national body which would
collate the referendum from various
chapters will come up with a stand on
whether the strike would be suspended
or sustained.
The national body of the union is billed
to sit at a National Executive Council
meeting tomorrow to consider the
positions of the various chapters and
take a decision.
Sources within hierarchy of ASUU says
classes will resume on Monday 18th
November.
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