Strike: What we agreed with FG —ASUU president, Prof Ogunyemi

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday gave conditions that must be satisfied before calling off its nine months old strike.

The lecturers said they did not reach any understanding with the government to suspend the strike on December 9, 2020.

The President of ASUU, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, made the clarification in a statement entitled: ‘Why the strike has not been suspended.

He said the union representatives only told FG’s delegation that it would take the government’s offer to the branches through the various organs of the union and report back

According to him, there was nothing in the government offer of November 27, 2020, to suggest that conclusion as allegedly claimed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.

He said, “The leadership of ASUU has been inundated with enquiries on why the ongoing strike action has not been suspended. This was sequel to the widely reported claims by some government agents that all the demands of ASUU have been met and that the union agreed to suspend the strike action today, 9th December, 2020. Nothing can be farther from the truth!

To put the records straight, the Principal Officers and Trustees who constitute the core of representatives of ASUU at negotiation meetings with government are not constitutionally empowered to suspend any strike action.

“Whatever comes out of an engagement with agents of the government is an offer which must be taken back to the branches through the various organs of the union.

Views and perspectives on offers by governments are aggregated and presented to government agents as counter-offers. This trade union strategy of offer and counter-offer is continually deployed until the National Executive Council of ASUU – consisting of all recognised chairpersons – finally approves what it considers an acceptable offer from the government. It is only then that any strike action by ASUU can be suspended.

At our last meeting in the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment on 27th November, 2020, the ASUU leadership promised to faithfully present the latest government offer to its members through the established tradition. The latest offer by government makes proposals on nearly all items of demand by the union with timelines

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