The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said it would from today paralyse academic activities in public universities nationwide.
The National President of the union, Dr. Nasir Issa Faggae, who announced the industrial action while addressing journalists yesterday in Lagos, noted that the strike would be total and indefinitely.
He said the strike was called over the non-payment of the Earned Allowances for lecturers since 2009 when the Federal Government and the union agreed to meet certain conditions concerning university education, including the allowance at stake.
Faggae explained that the decision to down tools was taken at a National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the union comprising 51 out of the 53 ASUU branches across the country held over the weekend at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, OUU, Ago- Iwoye, Ogun State. He warned that the union would not call off the strike until the Federal Government paid the allowance.
The ASUU president said the Earned Allowance, which covers inconvenience and work overload, among others, was an average of N12,500 per month per lecturer.
Faggae, however, said it was disheartening that the Federal Government had refused to pay the allowance to any lecturer in the last four years. He said: “ASUU has met the government several times on this allowance issue and other ones as contained in our Memorandum of Understanding in 2011 which was the fallout of the 2009 agreement.
“It has always been promises upon promises and we can no longer tolerate the action, thus the need to embark on the nationwide strike until our allowances are paid fully.”
While appealing to students, parents and other members of the public for understanding, Faggae said the union was left with no option than to embark on industrial action.
Lecturers at the University of Ibadan yesterday received a text message that ASUU had “declared a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike…”
Immediately the text was received, academic staff who had been expectant, lauded the decision of the National Executive Council, NEC, of the union to proceed on strike to improve the condition of the nation’s universities and improve quality of service delivery.
A source at the NEC meeting said ASUU took the decision after “observing all possible means of making government implement the agreement”.
Meanwhile, immediately the text message was circulated at the University of Ibadan, some of the lecturers who had lectures did not attend classes while the students waited in vain. Undergraduate students of the University of Ibadan resumed for the second semester only last week.
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