BY: NewsPeddlers
.jpeg)
As the second round of the
eight-week warning strike embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union
of Universities, ASUU, ends Tomorrow, the union is poised to go on an
indefinite industrial action.
Sources told Vanguard that the national
leadership of the union would make public its decision on Monday.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the union had earlier
given the go-ahead to the national leadership to call out members on indefinite
strike if nothing tangible was achieved during the eight weeks of their warning
strike.
The union had earlier gone on a month
warning strike on February 14 this year, and extended it by another eight weeks
which comes to an end on Monday, May 9, 2022.
The unions are the Senior Staff
Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the National Association of
Academic Technologists, NAAT, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and
Allied Institutions, NASU.
Though the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige,
had met with the leadership of SSANU, NAAT, and NASU, nothing concrete came out
of the meetings.
He is yet to meet with ASUU leadership,
though he announced last weekend that he would meet with them.
When contacted, by Vanguard the National President of
ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said “We too heard it in the news what the
Minister of Labour said about meeting with us, but as we talk, nobody has
reached out to us for any meeting. We don’t know when the meeting will be
called. However, I think before going to the press to announce any proposed
meeting, what ought to have been done is to inform us. Anyway, we are waiting
for the meeting when it is called.”
Osodeke further said the
national leadership of the union would decide the next line of action.
The National President of the National
Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, expressed
disgust with the continued closure of the universities.
“We cannot continue to waste the time of our children. They are
staying much at home than in school now. It is unfortunate that we are yet to
get over the issue of the closure of our higher institutions incessantly. That
is a minus for the system.” Asking how do we expect foreigners to respect our
certificates.
“Incidentally, it is not everybody that
can afford to send their children abroad to study. We must make our education
sector work and put an end to this rot. We plead with the government and the
university workers to find a mid-course and resolve this issue and let academic
activities resume in these institutions, ” Danjuma said.
In a chat with Vanguard, the National President of the National
Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Comrade Sunday Asefon, said the
association would study the situation and react appropriately.
“We already have a plan of action in
place regarding our demands for the reopening of the universities without
further delay and we are keeping faith with that. However, if the strike is
extended after the eight weeks of warning action, we will also react
appropriately too.”
Asefon also said “Nigeria students have wasted more than enough
time at home doing nothing. With this current situation now, students have
wasted time that is enough for them to finish a semester. We are tired of
things like this,”
NANS has previously said it would not
allow any political party to hold its presidential convention in Abuja unless
the universities are reopened.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, among other parties have fixed their conventions for Abuja.
Students from various
tertiary institutions have been on street protests in Ibadan, Benin, Abuja and
Lagos calling for an end to the strike and for universities to reopen.
SOURCE: VANGUARD