ASUU agrees to suspend strike, official announcement imminent

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has decided to suspend its indefinite strike action.

ASUU's decision was taken at the union's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja early Friday.

An official announcement should be made on Friday morning.

An ASUU-NEC member who was present at the meeting told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday morning that the suspension of the strike was based on last week's Court of Appeal decision that called on the union to to obey an order of the National Labor Court.

The Labor Court had, in granting an injunction sought by the Nigerian government, ordered the teachers to suspend the strike pending a decision on the merits of the action.

Our source said the government has yet to respond to the speakers' request.

Days after Labor Minister Chris Ngige referred the dispute with ASUU to the labor court, House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila began talks with the union.

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While the proceedings continued in court, the leadership of the House of Representatives facilitated meetings between ASUU and relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).

During the meetings, the government made a strong commitment not to adopt the speakers' preferred payment platform. Instead, he said the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) would be modified to suit the particularities of the university and its staff.

The government has also included, in the 2023 draft budget, N170 billion for the revitalization of tertiary institutions and N300 billion for salaries. It is not clear, however, whether these budget provisions meet teachers' demands.

On the government's position of "No work, no pay", Mr. Gbajabiamila called on President Muhammadu Buhari to make concessions.

Another source previously told PREMIUM TIMES that the union is awaiting President Buhari's decision on the payment of teachers' salaries during the strike period.

Requests

When the ASUU announced a four-week strike on February 14, the union was demanding better funding for universities and higher salaries for its members, in accordance with several agreements it had reached with the government.< /p>

Specifically, ASUU calls for the release of revitalization funds for universities, the payment of academic allowances earned by its members, the publication of white papers from the reports of presidential visitation panels as well as the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as the preferred payment platform for university workers.

ASUU rejected the IPPIS which the government uses to pay all civil servant salaries, arguing that the platform is fraudulent and does not recognize the particularities of universities.

ASUU extended the strike from February to August when the union announced an indefinite strike.

Qosim Suleiman is a journalist at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which connects local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to cover under-reported issues around the world

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