Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has declared that the union is ready to call off its seven-month strike.
Osodeke, however, asserted that accomplishing this would require the Federal Government to come to actual agreements.
He made the assurance yesterday in Abuja at a National Town Hall Meeting on Tertiary Education with the theme, “The Locked Gates of our Citadels – A National Emergency.”
Recall that on February 14 the union began its industrial action, marking more than seven months after the country’s public colleges were shut down.
In an effort to put a stop to the strike, the Federal Government recently sued ASUU in the industrial court.
“We have offered the government a minimum that we can accept on all of these concerns, but they have not answered on the topics of revitalisation, earned allowance, and issues that we have all addressed,” Osodeke added.
“We negotiated and agreed that they should sign, and this is very simple, not more than one day. On UTAS and IPPIS, we said to release the report of the test you did and let’s look at the one that came first and take it as we agreed. So, we have given them the minimum we want and we have to come down, and they can do it in one day if there is a will.”
“If the government loves this country, these children and their parents, then they should come to the table and let us resolve these issues in one day. Just as we did in 2014, they should come and ensure that we do that.
“We can even have the meeting openly so that Nigerians will see what we are discussing.”
The government filed a lawsuit against the union as a result of the ongoing strike, which the ASUU president expressed regret about. He claimed that suing the union will only make matters worse for students and tertiary education across the nation.
According to him, if the court orders the lecturers back to work, they won’t be required to do so while maintaining that students will undoubtedly suffer as a result.
Osodeke praised the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors for interceding to settle the problems.
Instead of criticizing the union, he advised parents and children to ask the government to take the appropriate action to put an end to the strike once and for all.
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