Barely nine months after calling off its last strike action, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the federal government of defaulting on the December 2020 Memorandum of Action (MoA) that led end of the strike.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, the union’s Zonal Coordinator in Kano, Comrade Abdulkadir Muhammad, said while strike action is not the only option available to the union, it is always the last resort because it “seems to be the only language the government understands”.
He said the union will use all logical and reasonable means within the ambit of the law, including ongoing engagement with members of the public and government, to achieve its aims.
Muhammad said the zone, comprising seven universities, in its meeting, on Friday, reviewed the level of implementation of the December 2020 MoA by the FG “which centered on Funding for Revitalization of Nigerian public Universities, Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), Proliferation and governance issues in the State Universities, Visitation panels, conclusion of Renegotiation of 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS), Withheld Salaries and Non-remittance of Check-off Dues due to inefficiencies arising from the forceful and illegal deployment of a scam called the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).”
He said the MoA stipulated timeline for the implementation of all the outstanding issues, but the FG “has failed to honor the agreement it freely entered with the Union.”
The failed agreements, he said, include the non-remittance of N30bn as tranche of N220bn on or before January 31, 2021, and also the government’s failure to convey a meeting as planned to strategise on the release of the balance which was supposed to have taken place since February.
“Nigerians should hold Government responsible for any disruption of academic calendar in Nigerian Universities.
“The Union is always ready to deploy appropriate measures to salvage the Nigerian University system from rot and decay”, he said.
