ASUU To Embark On Nationwide Strike

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The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the Federal Government fails to implement the 2009 agreement it reached with the union.

Dr. Theophilus Lagi, the Zonal Coordinator, Abuja Zone of the union, made this known in Abuja on Wednesday .

He stated that government had only implemented 30 percent of the provisions on the NEEDS Assessment budget in 2013, as he added that the funds were disbursed indiscriminately to university councils, as a fall out of the six months industrial action it had embarked upon in 2009.

He, therefore, called on the federal government to fully implement the 2009 agreement it reached with the union in order to prevent the nation’s universities from going on strike.

“The struggle to implement the 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement is not about the union. It is not about the personal benefits of the members only. It is about saving the university system from total collapse,” Dr. Lagi said.

“The current issues in contention includes funding of universities for revitalization in line with the MoU FGN entered into with ASUU in 2013, renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement which ASUU believes will reposition the entire education sector, facilitation of the registration of the Nigerian Universities Pension Management company, NUPEMCO, among others on the list.”

Dr Lagi who also regretted the failure by government to reply series of letters written to it and not taking any concrete steps towards implementing the core provisions of the agreement, described the present step by the union as designed to appeal and conscientiously inform Nigerians on the state of neglect of lectures by government and to serve as a prelude to full blown strike.