ASUU Suspends 8-Month-Old Strike Conditionally

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has finally decided to suspend its 8-month-old strike conditionally.

The strike started on the 14th of February, 2022 and since then, various meetings have been held by ASUU’s National Executive Committee with the Federal Government to negotiate how the latter can agree to all ASUU’s demands.

The union started a marathon meeting on Thursday, 13th October 2022, and it continued into the early hours of Friday morning. The meeting which involved ASUU’s NEC resulted in the conditional suspension of the strike following the ruling from the Court of Appeal on the 7th of October, 2022.

The Appeal Court had ordered ASUU to call off its industrial strike if their appeal to continue would be considered at all. During the period of the suspended strike, classes are to resume fully and negotiations with the Federal Government can continue.

ASUU’s NEC comprises the members of the national executive and the chairmen of the state chapters. While addressing the journalists on the confirmation of the strike suspension after the Court of Appeal’s ruling, members of the Committee stated that the committee would soon determine its next line of action.

The conditional suspension of the strike on the 14th of October, 2022 is the result of their “next line of action”. The suspension was a result of the decision of the state branches to comply with the ruling of the Court of Appeal.

Let’s have a brief recap of ASUU’s demands from the Federal Government.

ASUU’s Demands

ASUU commenced its 8-month-old strike on February 14, 2022, because the Federal Government refused to agree to some of its demands, which included:

• Revitalisation funds for universities
• Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN / ASUU agreement
• Payment of the earned allowances of university lecturers
• Deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS)

ASUU’s Demands in Details

1. Revitalisation Funds for Universities

In 2009 and 2013, the Federal Government went into an agreement with ASUU that a total of N1.3 trillion would be infused into public universities in six tranches. This was supposed to start in 2013 but only N200 billion had been released since 2013.

2. Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN / ASUU Agreement

The Federal Government agreed to renegotiate the 2009 agreement to review universities’ conditions of university autonomy, service, academic freedom, and funding. The conditions of service comprised a separate salary structure for university lecturers. It was to be tagged as ‘Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure.

After thirteen years of waiting, FG inaugurated a seven-man committee to renegotiate the 2019 agreement. The committee was led by Nimi Briggs.

3. Payment of the Earned Allowances of University Lecturers

In 2019, the Federal Government agreed to the payment of earned academic allowances (EEA). They paid in November 2019, but after promising to pay the second instalment by August 2020, nothing was paid.

Later that same year, FG agreed to pay N40 billion. However, Only N22.127 billion out of the earned allowances of both academic and non-academic staff of universities was released to 38 universities.

4. Deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS)

ASUU demanded that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that FG introduced be replaced with its own system: UTAS.

5. Constitution of Visitation Panels in Public Universities

ASUU demanded that according to the law, the government is supposed to visit its universities every five years. However, the last visit recorded was in January 2011.

The Federal Government later inaugurated 10 panels for 36 universities, six for 25 polytechnics, and five for 21 colleges of education.

6. Seized Salaries and Non-remittance of Check-off Dues

The Memorandum of Action dated the 22nd of December, 2020 features ASUU’s accusations against the Federal Government of deducting check-off dues on behalf of the union. It accused FG of refusing to remit the deduction between February to June 2020.

7. Budget Allocation Increase for the Educational Sector

ASUU demanded that the federal government should increase the budget allocated to the educational sector to 26%. Out of the 26% allocated to the educational sector in the national annual budget, half should be allotted to universities.

8. Proliferation of Universities

ASUU demanded the review of the Nigeria Universities Commission (2004) Act to address the subject of the proliferation of universities to increase the literacy level in the nation.

ASUU has released a memo officially stating the strike suspension as FG has agreed to all its demands. However, the strike was only suspended “conditionally”, does it mean that another strike might commence soon if their demands are not met? What does this change mean for Nigerian university students?

This article will be updated as soon as we get new information.

All images are sourced from Twitter