The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has indicated that it will most likely join the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the ongoing industrial action.
This was disclosed by the Owerri Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Prof Uzo Onyebinama during a press conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.
The ASUU stalwart during the conference denied the rumours that the total strike declared by the labour Union was not being sponsored by the opposition parties.
He also disclosed that ASUU was most likely to join in the strike as a result of the Federal Government’s inability to fulfill the 2009 agreement with the union on the welfare of its members.
Excerpts from the statement read;
“You will recall that the 2009 FGN —ASUU Agreement made provision for the re-negotiation of the Agreement every three (3) years.
Consequently, the first renegotiation of the Agreement should have been in 2012. This was not to be. The first renegotiation of the Agreement commenced in March 2017.
As we speak now, the renegotiation exercise has broken down since May 2018 (after 14months), due largely to the deliberate tactics adopted by the leader of the Government Team, Dr. Wale Babalakin, to scuttle the renegotiation, by jettisoning the principle of collective bargaining and the gains of previous agreements, memorandum of understanding and memorandum of action.
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In addition, the government team insisted that education ought to be funded from ‘diverse sources’ and consequently proposed the establishment of an Education Bank and a Students’ Loan Scheme.”
ASUU further urged the Federal Government to provide a platform for engagement between the leadership of the union and state governors on issues of proliferation of universities, underfunding of state universities, undue interference in the administration of state universities, as well as the non-implementation of various components of the 2009 Agreement in most state universities.