The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the Federal Government to use the remaining 10 days of the one-month window granted to it to fully resolve the lingering issues affecting the university system.
The warning follows resolutions made during the union’s National Executive Council meeting held at Taraba State University, Jalingo, between November 8 and 9. ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, stated that the call became necessary because some government officials were “undermining the negotiation process” by making misrepresenting statements about the government’s offers and the status of implementation.
ASUU had suspended its two-week warning strike on October 22nd, setting a deadline of November 22nd for the government to meet key demands. These demands include the review of the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement, payment of outstanding salaries and earned allowances, and the release of the university revitalisation fund.
The union stressed that it would resume industrial action without further notice if concrete steps were not taken to resolve the core issues. Prof. Piwuna clarified that the part-payment of promotion arrears dating back to 2017 and the release of third-party deductions were merely “confidence-boosting gestures” and did not address the substantive issues under negotiation. He stressed that while non-monetary areas saw some progress, salary and welfare matters require a more radical approach. The union insisted that the real challenge is a lack of political will to prioritize education, and argued that academics deserve better living and working conditions.
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