The Academic Staff Union of Universities has urged its chapters around the country to raise public awareness about the union’s dispute with the federal government.
This is why, in order to raise awareness, it has designated Monday, February 7, 2022 as a lecture-free day.
Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, the Union’s National President, revealed this in a chat with our correspondent on Saturday evening.
According to the Sunday PUNCH, the directive to ASUU chapters came less than a week after President Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) pledged his administration’s commitment to honouring the union’s agreement.
Buhari made the promise when members of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council visited him to discuss the lingering issues.
While making the pledge, Buhari pleaded with the union to exercise patience and consider current economic realities.
The last national strike by ASUU was in March 2020 and it lasted till December 2020, when a Memorandum of Action was signed.
However, a year after signing the MoA, ASUU accused the government of failing to fulfil its side of the bargain and threatened to mobilise for another strike immediately.
The government quickly moved to pay N55bn as part-payment for the Earned Academic Allowance and Revitalisation Fund, but the union was unmoved until the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and other dignitaries waded in.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, Prof Osodeke clarified that the union had not yet declared a strike but would be sensitising the public, which includes the media, on the state of affairs between the union and the Federal Government.