As the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, meets in Calabar, Cross River State for its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, there is a palpable fear of further strike in Nigeria’s public universities. The meeting reportedly began yesterday, Saturday, November 3, and is still ongoing as of the time this report was filed.
ASUU and the Nigerian government are engaged in a labor dispute because of broken promises and a persistent reluctance to pay its members’ salaries that have been withheld for eight months as a result of the Union’s most recent industrial action.
Recall that the Union had called off its eight-month strike on October 14, 2022, after the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
However, the Government insisted on implementing the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy for the period the university workers were away from their duty posts. A member of the ASUU’s NEC who spoke from Calabar, the Cross Rivers State capital, confirmed that the Union is currently meeting. “Yes, we have been meeting, and the meeting is still ongoing. \” There is no picture now because no decision has been taken.
“The issue is that we are just taking reports; for now, we have not reached the issue of withheld salaries,” he said. Meanwhile, ASUU had last week mandated its members to protest over the issue of eight-months withheld salaries. Earlier reported that ASUU members at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and University of Ibadan (UI), amongst others, joined the protest to press home their demands.
