The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) chapter, has threatened to initiate a strike due to the Federal Government’s failure to address their grievances. Despite employing diplomatic and political means, the union claims to be dealing with a hypocritical government.
On Thursday, following a peaceful protest march around the campus, ASUU-UNN members issued their threat, citing the government’s failure to implement agreements with the union.
Demonstrators carried placards with messages such as “Government, stop forcing ASUU to embark on strike,” “Government, honour agreements with ASUU,” and “Don’t kill university education in Nigeria.”
ASUU-UNN members called for the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.
They expressed support for a nationwide indefinite strike if their demands are not met within 21 days.
Comrade Oyibo Eze, Chairman of ASUU-UNN, addressed the institution’s management on behalf of the union, condemning the government as hypocritical and selfish.
“The Union has tried all possible diplomatic and political means to resolve this issue. But after weighing all the other options, the only language the Nigerian government understands is strike.
“Since 2009 ASUU entered an agreement with the Federal Government, every effort to renegotiate the agreement with the federal government has proved abortive.
“President Bola Tinubu made it clear during his campaign that he would end the ASUU strike by fulfilling all the demands of the Union, but immediately he assumed office, he never made efforts to match his words with action.
“Immediately he assumed office, we articulated our grievances and sent them to him, we have done that up to three times but we have not received any response from the government.
“Since he assumed office one year ago, our Union has employed both political and diplomatic means to make the Federal Government address our grievances, but none yielded any result.
“We are dealing with a hypocritical government, which takes money in millions but is not able to give N100,000 to civil servants,” Eze said.
Professor Johnson Urama, Deputy Vice Chancellor of UNN, praised the union for its peaceful protest and expressed hope that the government would act swiftly to prevent the impending ASUU strike, which could disrupt academic activities.
ASUU’s last nationwide strike in 2022 lasted eight months, triggered by the government’s failure to honor its agreement with the union.
