ASUU Suspends 8-Month-Old Strike Conditionally

The Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) has suspended its eight-month-old industrial action conditionally, a member of the union’s National Executive Committee told Channels TV early Friday.

iexclusivenews reports that the union decided to suspend the strike during a meeting of its leadership that started on Thursday night and lasted into the early hours of Friday.

This online news outlet understands that the meeting was called by the union to determine its next line of action after its state branches met over the Court of Appeal ruling last week.

ASUU is expected to make a formal announcement about the suspended strike this morning.

Prior to the meeting, the Court of Appeal ordered ASUU to call a halt to the strike until its appeal of the verdict requiring professors to return to work could be heard.

Members of the union’s National Executive Committee, which includes state chapter chairmen and national executive members, attended the meeting at the ASUU National Secretariat in Abuja.

Since February 14 of this year, ASUU has been on strike.

When the professors went on strike – initially for four weeks – ASUU stated that it was striving for better university funding as well as enhanced welfare for its members based on multiple agreements negotiated with the government.

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ASUU specifically requested the delivery of school revitalisation money, the payment of earned academic allowances to members, and the distribution of whitepapers based on presidential inspection committees’ recommendations.

It also demanded that the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) be used as a payment platform for university employees rather than the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) (IPPIS).

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Following the failure of the Federal Government and ASUU to reach an agreement, the union continued to extend the strike before declaring it indefinite in August.

Meanwhile, iexclusivenews Nigeria reports that following the conflict, the Federal Government established two factional unions:

The Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA). And the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMEDDA) (NAMDA).

But ASUU had said it was not bothered about the government’s move, describing it as “illegal”.