ASUU is likely to join NLC in the strike.

There are possibilities that the acdemic staff union of universityuniversity - ASUU might join NLC in the strike.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities may
join the Nigeria Labour Congress in the
ongoing industrial action.

The Owerri Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Prof
Uzo Onyebinama, disclosed this at a press
conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University,
Awka, Anambra State.

While debunking that the strikes were not
sponsored by the opposition parties,
Onyebinama said the reason of ASUU strike
was as a result of the Federal Government’s
inability to fulfill the 2009 agreement with
the union on the welfare of its members.

His statement read in part, “You will recall
that the 2009 FGN —ASUU Agreement made
provision for the re-negotiation of the Agreement
every three (3) years.

“Consequently, the first renegotiation of the
Agreement should have been in 2012. This was
not to be. The first renegotiation of the
Agreement commenced in March 2017.
“As we speak now, the renegotiation exercise
has broken down since May 2018 (after
14months), due largely to the deliberate tactics
adopted by the leader of the Government Team,
Dr. Wale Babalakin, to scuttle the renegotiation,
by jettisoning the principle of collective
bargaining and the gains of previous
agreements, memorandum of understanding  and
memorandum of action.

“In addition, the government team insisted that
education ought to be funded from ‘diverse
sources’ and consequently proposed the
establishment of an Education Bank and a
Students’ Loan Scheme.”

The Union urged the Federal Government to,
as a matter of urgency, provide a platform
for the leadership of ASUU to engage State
Governors on  issues of  proliferation of
universities, underfunding of state
universities, undue interference in the
administration of state universities, and the
non-implementation of various components
of the 2009 Agreement in many state
universities.

The union said it would be left with no other
choice than to embark on an industrial
action if the contentious issues were not
resolved.