The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called off its 8-month-long strike.
The announcement was made by ASUU in the early hours of Saturday:
“The decision followed a meeting with the government team led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, in Abuja, on Friday.
“The FG further agreed to settle the arrears of salaries of the lecturers before December 31.
“ASUU is expected to report the agreement to its organs and then communicate their decision to the government after which a date for the calling off of the strike would be announced.”
The result of the long strike is that an entire academic session is wasted. There will very likely be two sets of 100 level students in each university, a development that will cause more disruptions to the already overstretched infrastructure of every university.
The Union had embarked on the protracted strike action to mount pressure on the Federal Government to pay more attention to the tertiary education system.
They put the total cost of revamping the universities at N500 billion. After several meetings and proposals by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, coupled with deadlocks, ASUU finally settled for a mere N70 billion funding.
Government agreed to pay N40 billion as earned allowances to the lecturers and a paltry N30 billion to revamp the comatose university system.
The Federal government also agreed to waive the “no work, no pay” threat on the lecturers and settle all arrears of salaries before the 31st of December, 2020.
In addition, government has exempted ASUU members from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). This is pending its approval of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) proposed by ASUU.
Expectedly, concerned Nigerians and students in particular are not impressed with the truce:
Balo @balof2001 Replying to @ASUUNGR “Just 70billion and the government and ASUU kept the citizens at home for almost a year.The Senate and Reps public officers earned approximately 40million in a months.Minimum wage of 30,000 thousand per civil servant,held hostage without approval! Nigeria government is WICKED.“
Bassey Archibong@baseyarchibong Replying to @ASUUNGR “Universities in Nigeria should plan compensation packages for students who happen to be the biggest loser’s of this industrial action. ASUU members still get paid in full for the months of idleness. Nigerian students just gets to lose all-round.“
El Rey Magnifico@kingadetokunbo“Oga no misunderstanding here, you guys wasted 8 months of students time. Irreplaceable time and still settle for the barest minimum. You should be ashamed. ASUU is a disappointment just like the FG.“
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