Nigerian universities may be closed again this year if the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) does not meet its demands, according to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
This was disclosed by ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke in an interview with The ICIR.
According to the union president, the government had yet to address the issues that led to previous industrial actions which lasted for eight months.
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Following the government’s failure to honor the agreement reached with the lecturers in 2009 and meet other union demands, ASUU went on strike on February 14, 2022.
Following an Appeal Court ruling in favor of the government on September 21, 2022, ordering ASUU to resume work and upholding a similar injunction previously issued by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, the union called off its strike on October 14.
Unlike in the past, when striking workers were paid for the time they were off the job, the government has stated that it will not pay ASUU.
ASUU members received a half-month salary at the end of October, two weeks after they returned to work, which the government described as ‘pro-rata.’
Since then, the union has demanded that the government pay its members’ backlog.
Speaking during the interview on the possibility of another industrial strike, Osodeke said, “It is not possible in this country, except we have a set of leaders that will be elected and will be human beings and think about the system.”
He said ASUU members continued working because they wanted the best for the nation.
The union leader, however, pointed out that his group was waiting for the government to fulfill its promises which led to the suspension of the union’s eight-month strike in 2022.
