ASUU denies plan to call off strike

ABUJA — ACADEMIC Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, has described as
speculative reports that the strike
embarked upon by the union over the
inability of the Federal Government to
implement the 2009 agreement it
willingly entered into with the union
would be called off this Thursday.
National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir
Fagge, told Vanguard that he was
surprised to hear that the union was
going to call off the strike on Thursday
when the issues tabled before
government had not been resolved.
Faggae said: "There is nothing like that
(suspending the strike). I am also
surprised to hear people say that we are
going to call off the strike.
He said: "Our members have made it
categorically clear what they want. This
meeting we had with government on
Friday at the office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, SGF, is
just exploratory.
"We are trying to look at issues holistically
and see how we are going to address
them. So assignments were given to
various people that attended the meeting
and the expectation is that we will meet
tomorrow (today), Monday and look at
the assignment given and also look at it
on Thursday again.
"So, that is why I'm surprised to hear
people say that we are going to suspend
strike on Thursday. The mandate of our
members is very clear. So, we will wait
and see what the Monday and Thursday
meetings unfold and then we report back
to our members."
On how long it would take ASUU leaders
to convene a meeting with its members
after the meeting with government on
Thursday, the ASUU boss said "we are in
constant consultation with our members,
we don't really have problems with that.
"After the meeting, we will decide when
to link up with our members depending
upon what is placed on table on
Thursday."
Commenting on the speculation that the
union might suspend the strike if the
government met up to 50 per cent of the
agreement, Faggae said the union would
prefer to get to the bridge before
crossing it.
He commended the positive disposition of
the Joint Senate and House of
Representatives Committee on Education
towards the resolution of the crisis.
Fagge added: "For us, the interaction we
have had with the Joint Committee
clearly indicates that they are concerned
like other Nigerians".
"This is expected of the representatives of
people. You see the problem has always
been that the executive arm of
government does not really hearken to
advise that are given on how best to
address the problems on education in this
country.
"We are convinced as a union that the
only thing the government can really do
for Nigerians is to avail them of
education.
"Once you are able to do that, you will
see that people will be able to generate
jobs and they will be able to take care of
themselves and contribute to nation
building. So that is the argument we are
placing on the table."