The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has resolved to end its eight-month industrial action.
The decision was reached following a meeting of the union's leadership that started Thursday night and lasted into the early hours of Friday.
In a statement signed by ASUU’s president, Emmanuel Osodeke, the union said some of its issues remain unresolved.
The statement in part reads: “For the avoidance of doubt, the issues include funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, proliferation of public universities, visitation panels/release of white papers, university transparency and accountability solution (UTAS) as a broad spectrum software to stop illegality and provide for an alternative payment platform in the university system, renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
“However, as a law-abiding union and in deference to appeals by the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and in recognition of the efforts of Hon. Gbajabiamila, and other well-meaning Nigerians, ASUU NEC resolved to suspend the strike action embarked upon on February 14, 2022.
“Consequently, all members of ASUU are hereby directed to resume all services hitherto withdrawn with effect from 12:01 on Friday, October 14, 2022.”
ASUU's Demands
ASUU embarked on industrial action on February 14 to push for an improved academic environment and the welfare of its members.
Some of the lecturers' demands are:
• The adoption of its proprietary University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) in paying the wages of lecturers, rather than the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) used for paying other federal government workers.
• The publication of the white papers on visitation panels to federal universities.
• The release of the balance of one tranche of the Revitalization Fund.
• The release of two outstanding tranches of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).
• And an amendment to the law of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to check the proliferation of universities, especially by state governments.
Some members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in a show of displeasure with the strike action, led a protest march to the popular Benin-Ore road and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The federal government filed a suit before the industrial court to halt the ASUU strike following repeated failures by both parties to reach a workable agreement.
Despite a ruling by the National Industrial Court on September 21, 2022, ordering the university to return to work, the university lecturers remained adamant.
The federal government through the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige subsequently approved the establishment of the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA), two breakaway factions of ASUU.
The decision to end the industrial action follows the intervention of the House of Representatives led by the speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
