By Odunayo Ogunseye
In a news published by Daily Post on the 17th of August, 2021, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will embark on a fresh strike if the Federal Government does not attend to the outstanding issues in the Memorandum of Action (MOA) December 23rd, 2020 and the issues related to the drafted renegotiated agreement of May, 2021.
The National President of the Union, Comrade Victor Emmanuel Osadeke, made this known at a press conference that took place on Monday in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The Union President urged the general public to put pressure on the Federal Government to sign the agreement by the end of August in order to avoid any strike action by the union.
According to him, “ASUU hopes authorities at both the Federal and State government levels would give these matters the urgent attention they deserve to sustain and improve on the current industrial peace on our university campuses.”
He further stated that the Union is concerned about the declining fortunes of the state universities and the negligence by the state governors whose responsibility is to fund, staff and make the universities globally competitive.
The Union President stated that to avoid the collapse of the state-owned universities beyond redemption, there is a need for the concerned state governors, governing council and other individuals and agencies to take necessary steps to prevent such calamity.
He requested all owners of state universities to pay all arrears of third-party deduction such as bank loans, cooperative contributions, check-off dues and pension deductions.
He called on all the owners of state universities to urgently make adequate budgetary provisions for both current and recurrent expenditure for infrastructure, staff development and payment of staff starting with 2022 budgets.
The Comrade called for the provision of functional pension schemes in line with the 2014 Pension Act and the payment of all salaries and allowances that the government owed staffs
The Union President warned against all forms of threats of ASUU members who speak out on behalf of the union.
He talked about the worsen state of insecurity of the nation making the sudden disappearance of Prof. R.B.Adeniyi, of the Department of Mathematics, University of Ilorin, as a case study.
Comrade Osodeke admonished Nigerian rulers to tackle corruption, use intelligence to fight insecurity and make use of home-grown solutions to Nigeria’s problems in order to make the global community take us serious.
