Newsone has compiled the latest ASUU news on the current strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), a Nigerian union of university academic staff.
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Below is the latest Asuu strike update, asuu latest news on resumption and ASUU strike news today, Saturday, 27th August 2022, compiled by Newsone Nigeria.
ASUU President under fire for calling state-owned universities ‘quacks’
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, has come under sharp criticism for referring to other universities that announced resumption despite the union’s ongoing strike as “quacks.”
The ASUU president’s comment has generated reactions among Nigerians including university scholars and Nigerian academics.
University responds
For instance, the management of Ekiti State University (EKSU) has replied to Mr Osodeke, rejecting its categorisation among ‘quack’ universities, even as it described the comments as “totally unacceptable and condemnable”.
The university, therefore, demanded a retraction and an apology from the president.
“The Management calls on Professor Osodeke to toe the path of honour by retracting the provocative remark and tender an unreserved apology without further delay,” it said in a statement by its Head of Directorate of Information and Corporate Affairs, Bode Olofinmuagun.
The statement noted that the university viewed the comments as “denigrating, unfortunate, reckless and unwarranted.”
ASUU chapters opting out of strike quacks – National President
President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has described state-owned universities opting out of the ongoing industrial action as quacks.
He stated this in an interview with Arise TV, monitored by The Nation on Friday.
Osodeke stated State universities planning to resume lectures are not members of ASUU except Lagos State University(LASU) whose case is still in court for sacking their executive members.
According to him: “Please when you’re providing data look at the background. Kwara State University is not a member of ASUU, they’ve not joined, you can check. Osun State University was suspended from ASUU for misbehaviour, you can check.
“In LASU that you mentioned, we are in court with LASU because they sacked all our executives more than five years ago, so they were not part of this struggle.
“For Ekiti State University, ASUU doesn’t run a University, the government have a right to say we have reopened, our members have the right to say that’s good for you, we are not teaching, we are on strike as it happened in Gombe State University, Yobe State University, you can go and check as it happened in Kaduna State University so don’t cite those examples, they are irrelevant.
“Talking about the issue, is Ibadan on strike, is UNN on strike, is ABU on strike, is BUK on strike, is Maiduguri on strike, is Lagos on strike? Let us talk about the important ones not those quacks.“
UNIZIK ASUU upgrades strike to indefinite
THE Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has announced that the ongoing strike embarked upon by the lecturers has officially been made indefinite.
After a Congress in Awka, the chairman of the union, Comrade Stephen Ufoaroh said UNIZIK is fully in support of the national, zonal and branch leaderships on their stand concerning the strike.
He said: “Against the backdrop of government’s intransigence and lack of commitment to reaching an agreement with ASUU on the contentious issues after over six months of industrial action, ASUU-NAU has ultimately resolved for a comprehensive, total and indefinite strike going forward, until all issues at stake are satisfactorily resolved between the Union and the Federal Government.
“ASUU NAU Congress reaffirms support for the national, zonal and branch leaderships of the union in their management of the struggle to save the soul of the public universities in Nigeria, where over 95% of Nigerian students study, and for being a voice for the voiceless citizens of Nigeria”.
ASUU likely to declare indefinite strike next week
ASUU: Parents propose N10, 000 support levy for varsities
The National Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria has sought audience with the Federal Government over the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The association is also proposing the payment of N10, 000 per session for each parent to assist government in making more funds available for universities.
NAPTAN’s Public Relations Officer, Dr. Ademola Ekundayo, disclosed this during an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
Ekundayo, who lamented continued closure of universities in the country, said parents were at the receiving ends of the disagreement between the Federal Government and ASUU.
He said, “We have submitted a letter to the Office of the Education Minister, seeking for audience where we hope to discuss a proposal.
“We are proposing a sum of N10, 000 per parent every session that will be directly paid to the universities. That will be our own contribution apart from other statutory payments in making more funds available to the universities.
“It can be called parent support levy for universities. We are at the receiving end of the industrial action. We plead with the ASUU and Federal Government to immediately resolve their differences.”
ASUU NEC decides on strike Sunday
The National Executive Council of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities will meet on Sunday, August 28, 2022 to take a decision on whether to suspend or continue with the industrial action, The PUNCH has learnt.
Sources among the union’s NEC members told our correspondent on Monday that the meeting will hold at the union’s national headquarters at the University of Abuja.
Our correspondent further gathered that the council will take a decision on the industrial action based on reports from the various state congresses.
The PUNCH reports that ASUU had on Monday, February 14, 2022 embarked on a strike.
The union had demanded for the renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement; release of revitalisation funds for universities; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers; release of earned allowances; and the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities.
“The NEC meeting will hold on August 28, the four weeks ultimatum that we gave is expiring that same day. We will be making our decisions based on the results of the state congresses.
“The NEC has to depend on the result of the congresses. The zones have held their own congresses; the branch chairmen will also talk to their members and they will get feedback which will be transmitted to the NEC,” one of the sources said.
ASUU strike: FG’S proposal may lead to lecturers’ pay cut
The offer made by the Federal Government to lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities may lead to a reduction in the salaries of entry level lecturers under the graduate assistant cadre, investigations by Sunday PUNCH have revealed.
Our correspondent also gathered that the Federal Government’s offer had been rejected by the majority of ASUU members, who had held their zonal congresses.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the union leaders met with the Emeritus Professor Nimi-Briggs committee last Tuesday.
ASUU’s President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, while refusing to go into details of the discussion with the government, however, described the proposal as a “miserable offer.”
ASUU had on Monday, February 14, 2022 announced the commencement of a strike due to what it described as “failure” on the part of the government to meet some of the lingering demands of the union.
The union had cited the failure of the government to release revitalisation funds for universities; non-release of earned allowances to lecturers; end the proliferation of universities by politicians and state governments; refusal to deploy the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers; and refusal to renegotiate the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement as reasons for its present strike.
Strike: ASUU To Meet With FG On Tuesday
The Academic Staff Union of Universities is scheduled to meet with Federal Government representatives on Tuesday over its prolonged strike action.
Speaking on Politics Today, President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke said the meeting was to discuss one of seven issues ASUU is protesting over,
“That is the issue of renegotiation,” Osodeke said, “the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
“It is not just about wages. It has to do with the system, funding, the structure, the autonomy and other issues; and how to fund universities.
“The government has reduced it to just salaries alone. But if they had looked at the whole agreement and implemented it, we will not be talking about funding.”
Professor Osodeke suggested that if Tuesday’s meeting goes well, the strike action may be called off.
“We are willing to sign,” he said.
We’ve no business with parents, they should beg FG – ASUU says as strike hits sixth month
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the parents of the Nigerian students should beg the federal government to fulfil the promises it had with the Union so as to put an end to the ongoing six-month long strike.
ASUU said that the federal government is the employer of the universities’ lecturers and so it has no business with the parents.
This was disclosed by ASUU National President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke in an interview with Vanguard on Saturday.
Osodeke said this to react to a statement by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, when he said that parents should beg ASUU to call off the strike.
Int. Youth Day: Atiku pledges to end incessant ASUU strike
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to work with lecturers to end incessant strikes in Nigeria universities.
Atiku stated this at a youth programme with the theme “Intergenerational Synergy on Government”, organised by PDP to commemorate the 2022 International Youth Day celebration in Abuja on Friday.
The former vice president, who narrated how his father was arrested for never wanting him to go to school, described education as fundamental right of any citizen, especially the children and youth.
He decried the inability of the government to resolve lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying such would not happen if he is elected president.
“I want to pledge that I will work with university authorities and government to make sure we end this incessant strikes by ASUU.
“This is because education is fundamental to your growth. It doesn’t matter whether you are in politics, business or any sector. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated.
“Therefore it is the responsibility of any responsible government to make sure that right is given to every Nigerian, every youth in this country,” Atiku said.
FG can fund education without borrowing – ASUU
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said the Federal Government has money to fund its demand but remains adamant to improving the education sector in the country.
ASUU President, Prof.Emmanuel Osodeke, stated that the union did not tell the Federal Government to borrow to fund its demand.
He said tertiary institutions in the country had suffered enough setbacks, hence the authorities should be awake to its obligations.
He said, “Who is asking them to borrow? They (Federal Government) have the money. If they can release N400bn for trader money, did they borrow that? Is trader money more important than universities being closed?
“If they dedicate N200bn for feeding of children in school, which we don’t see; if they can be thinking of plea bargain with somebody who stole N80bn, they should let Nigerians know that they are not interested in education rather than giving flimsy excuses.
“We are not asking the government to borrow; we say they should fund education.”
‘Call off strike’, Buhari begs ASUU, other unions
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other related unions to call off their strike to allow students go back to classrooms.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari made the appeal on Friday while speaking at a Special Convocation ceremony organised to confer Honorary Doctorate Degree on a business mogul, Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi by the University of Mauduguri.
Our members leaving Nigeria since strike – ASUU President
PRESIDENT of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Victor Osodeke, yesterday, disclosed that many lecturers in Nigerian Universities have left the country to pursue their careers abroad as the Federal Government fails to resolve the lingering crisis in the education sector.
Fielding questions from journalists at the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Osodeke said: “We don’t have a certain statistic but a large number of our members have moved out of the country not because they hate this country but because of the way they are being treated. There’s no country in the world where their academics will go on strike and you think the best weapon is to seize their salary.
“When we were on the strike, lecturers in the United Kingdom went on strike, it didn’t take two days for them to resolve it, the Ghanaians went on strike and they resolved it. But here, they felt nonchalant and you know why? Because they do not commit, their children are not here, they are not Nigerians, their children are abroad, and their families are abroad.
“We see the children of President, children of Senators, children of Governors having their convocation and you see other Governors coming to rejoice with them, so you have leaders who do not have any feelings for the children of the poor.
“ASUU will go as far till they (FG) are ready to answer. We also appeal to Nigerians, the beauty of this, is that their lives are in their hands. In the next five to six months from now, there will be an election, they should hold their PVC, and all those who have subjected them to this crisis should be voted out. It is their right they voted them in, they can’t be at home while their children will be enjoying education outside the country. This is their right they should use their PVC.”
FG hasn’t informed ASUU of cash crunch – Osodeke
Striking Academic Staff Union of Universities has said the government has not at any time indicated that it does not have money to fund the union’s demands and university education.
The union was reacting to recent comments by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo; and Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, who said it was unreasonable for the Federal Government to borrow over N1 trillion to meet ASUU’s demands.
The PUNCH reports that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, after submitting its demands, which were being renegotiated by the Prof. Nimi Briggs committee set up by the Federal Government.
The strike enters its 180th day on Friday (today).
ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview with The PUNCH, described those saying the government had no money as interlopers who had no business in the affairs of ASUU and the government.
Osodeke said, “Do you believe the FG has no money? Is Umahi the FG? Has the Minister of Education said so? Has the Minister of Finance said so? If the person directed to resolve a matter has not said so when interlopers are saying things, who will you believe?
“When did Umahi become the spokesperson for the FG? They can borrow money for Trader Moni, they can borrow money to feed schoolchildren in schools, they can borrow to buy vehicles for Niger Republic, but they cannot borrow to fund education. We are tired too. If they want to close down all the universities formally, they should.”
Resolve issues with ASUU now, vice-chancellors beg FG
The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities has said the government’s insistence that it does not have money to fund Nigerian universities is disheartening.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, in an interview, said the government had no money to meet ASUU’s demands and would not go into borrowing.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, on Tuesday, the chairman of CVCNU, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, explained that the demands of ASUU were not for the union but for the rehabilitation of the universities, adding that what the government meant by that statement was that it did not have money to fund its own universities.
He said, “This issue of saying we don’t have money to put into the university system shouldn’t be. It is like the NEEDS assessment fund; it was not given to ASUU, it was given to the universities.
“When they say we don’t have funds, what they are saying is that ‘these universities are our own but we don’t have money to give. We don’t have money to pay for overhead to run the universities.’ I listened to Keyamo also. He is not even at the centre of the whole thing.”
Edoumiekumo added that he and other VCs in the country are not happy that the universities were closed down.
He, therefore, called for a speedy resolution.
“I will not take whatever Keyamo says as the position of the government. We are not happy that our universities are closed down. I plead with both parties to amicably resolve the issues on the ground. I know the government and ASUU, especially the Ministry of Education, are working with national leaders of ASUU, but they have not finalised the reason they have not come out publicly,” he added.
NANS to engage FG over ASUU demands
The National Association of Nigerian Students is set to engage the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, over alleged reports that the Federal Government has no money to meet the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The student body has, however, dissociated itself from a report calling for the sack of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, by some “faceless students.”
The association’s Vice President (Special Duties), Odiahi Ikhine, who addressed a news conference on Monday in Abuja, said the students were unhappy with comments credited to the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, that the government had no money to meet the demands of ASUU.
Keyamo was said to have asked parents to beg ASUU to call off the strike because the government could not afford the 1.2 trillion demands of the union as proposed by the Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs Committee on renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.
Ikhine said the leadership of the Association would meet with Adamu and Ngige to know exactly what was happening after President Buhari gave a directive that the strike be resolved within two weeks and government officials were coming out to say that there was no money to meet the demands of the union.
He vowed that the students would not relent in their efforts to ensure the right thing is done.
“On the issue of ASUU strike, we as an organisation have been doing our best. We have been able to pressure the government and just recently the NLC called for a protest and we joined them. As it is, we are not relenting.
ASUU strike: We’re not happy with Keyamo over no-money comment —NANS
THE National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS,has berated the Minister of Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo,over his statement not only that the federal government would not borrow money to meet the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, but also tasking parents to beg the university lecturers to return to classrooms.
NANS also hinted that it would engage the federal government through the Minister of Labour and Employment,Chris Ngige and his Education counterpart,Adamu Adamu,with a view to knowing the position of government following Keyamu’s statement
NANS Vice President (Special Duties), Comrade Odiahi Thomas Ikhine, who addressed news conference on Monday in Abuja, said students across the country were disappointed over the comments credited to Keyamo, that goverment has no money to meet the demands of ASUU.
ASUU strike: Delaying decisions means postponing evil day – JAMB Registrar
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede has appealed to striking lecturers to resume.
Oloyede made the appeal on Saturday while monitoring the 2022 mop-up Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
More than 42,000 candidates participated in the exercise conducted in 45 centres in five states.
The examination was organized for candidates who could not participate in the nationwide test which was held in May.
Oloyede appealed to parties to reach a truce to ensure affected students return to the classrooms.
The registrar said even if ASUU called off the strike, it would not prevent it from happening again.
“I believe that what we should do is to look at the system and take some hard decisions.
“If we do not take such decisions, then we may be postponing the evil day”, NAN quoted him saying.
Strike: We can no longer enter into unimplementable agreements — FG
THE Federal Government has said it would no longer succumb to any form of blackmail and intimidation that will make it enter into agreement with unions that will be difficult to implement.
The government’s position is coming on the heels of the face-off between it and the four university based unions that culminated in a strike which has lingered for about six months.
Beg ASUU, we can’t borrow, Keyamo tells parents
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has called on Nigerian parents and guardians whose parents are affected by the ongoing shutdown of academic activities in government-owned universities to appeal to the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off the lingering strike.
ASUU had declared a nationwide strike on Monday, February 14, 2022.
The strike, according to the union, was as a result of the failure of the government to meet some demands such as the release of the revitalisation funds for universities, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, renegotiation of the ASUU-Federal Government 2009 agreement among others.
Since the strike began, stakeholders had called on the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to find a lasting solution to the strike and increase funding of tertiary institutions.
The President, in a meeting with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, alongside his other colleague, gave a directive to the members of his cabinet involved to ensure a speedy solution to the strike.
However, our correspondent reports that close to three weeks after the directive by the President, the union was yet to suspend its strike.
Featuring on a programme on Channels Television, Keyamo noted that the government had done its best and appealed to parents to “beg” ASUU.
“The moment they went on strike, we intervened, what is the manner again beyond that ? Even before the strike began, we called them to a meeting, what manner is more than that? It’s not like we left them to go on strike first and we were sleeping, as the talk started, they still went on strike.
“You can not allow one sector of the economy to hold you down and then blackmail you to go and borrow N1.2 trillion and our total income is around N6.1 trillion and we have roads to build, health centres and other sectors to take care of.
“I will tell the parents, everybody to go and beg ASUU like the President said the other time, those who know them should appeal to their sense of patriotism. The nation can not ground to a halt because we want to take care of the demands of ASUU”.
ASUU Strike has been extended again.
Newsone reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has extended the prolonged industrial action embarked upon over five months ago by another four weeks.
This online news platform recalls ASUU Strike commenced on February 14, 2022, following the inability of the Federal Government to implement a Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered by the two parties in 2020.
Newsone Nigeria reports that ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke in a statement on Monday, August 1, 2022, said the decision to further extend the strike was to enable the FG satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues raised.
The development was a sequel to an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council of the union held at the Comrade Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, the University of Abuja in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Sunday, July 31, 2022.
The statement reads in part, “Following extensive deliberations and taking cognizance of Government’s past failures to abide by its own timelines in addressing issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA), NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for four weeks to give Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.
“The roll-over strike action is with effect from 12.01 am on Monday, 1st August 2022”.
That’s the ASUU strike update today, check back for more updates. Also, get more trending Naija news on Newsone Nigeria.
