The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared a two-week warning strike, beginning 13 October, accusing the Federal Government of failing to honour agreements and address long-standing issues affecting public universities.
ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, announced the decision on Sunday during a press briefing at the union’s headquarters at the University of Abuja, stating that the action became necessary after “several failed attempts” to get the government to act.
Piwuna said the decision to embark on the warning strike was taken because the government had failed to take necessary steps regarding the union’s demands.
On 8 October, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, had appealed to ASUU to exercise patience, assuring that negotiations with tertiary institution unions were in their final stages. However, Piwuna dismissed the appeal as “coming too late,” insisting that the union would proceed with the warning strike.
“The problem with this government is that they are slow in responding to our demands,” Piwuna said. “When we were about to embark on strike action, we went for a meeting in Sokoto and they gave us three weeks, which we accepted. During those three weeks, we never heard a word from them until the time had elapsed.”
He added that the union’s 2009 renegotiated agreement remains unfulfilled and accused the current administration of continuing the same pattern of “promises without action” as previous governments.
Piwuna said the strike, which will be observed across all ASUU branches nationwide, could still be averted if the Federal Government takes concrete steps to address the lecturers’ demands.
