Varsities boil again as FG, ASUU meet, workers protest Tuesday

The Academic Staff Union of Universities said it will be meeting with the Federal Government on July 25, 2024 over its unmet demands.

This was as non-academic staff of universities declared on Sunday that they were set for a one-day protest on Tuesday on campuses over their withheld four-month salaries. The one-day protest would be a prelude to a nationwide protest planned for July 18.

The National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this in a phone interview with our correspondent on Sunday.

Osodeke said July 25 was the implementation date in the timeline agreed to with the Federal Government.

For some weeks now, ASUU chapters across campuses in the country have been engaging in protests.

The protesting academics, who were joined by students, threatened to embark on another round of industrial action if the government refused to fulfill the promises made to them.

The union also published an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, demanding the full implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government since 2009.

Osodeke emphasised that the protests yielded a positive result, saying it led to the Federal Government calling the union for a meeting and fixing a timeline to meet some of the promises.

He said, “We have met with the Minister of Education and reached a timeline. They made promises to us and we want to watch if it would be done. We are meeting two weeks from today, July 25th, to see if they have done what they promised.

“The protest made them to call us for a meeting, they should fulfill their promise.”

The letter published in a newspaper, dated June 20, 2024, said the Nigerian academics were compelled to embark on nationwide strike action on February 14, 2022, when all entreaties to the government to resolve the issues in contention fell on deaf ears.

Osodeke said the 10 issues and other emerging ones were the conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement based on the Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021.

He said the agreement was on the release of withheld three and a half months’ salaries on account of the 2022 strike action; release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical leave, part-time, and adjunct appointments owing to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System; release of outstanding third-party deductions, such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; funding for revitalisation of public universities (partly captured in 2023 Federal Government’s Budget).

Other issues in contention include the Earned Academic Allowances (partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget); proliferation of universities by the federal and state governments; implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities; Illegal dissolution of Governing Councils; and the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (in place of IPPIS).

Osodeke said, “Your Excellency is requested to set necessary machinery in motion for bringing ASUU and major stakeholders (Ministries, Departments, and Agencies) together to address the outstanding issues in FGN/ASUU engagements since 2009. This will save our university system the agonies of another round of industrial action and its disruptive potential. The President’s promise of smooth academic calendars in universities at the inception of this administration, we believe, is achievable if the government sincerely sits down to address the issues as listed here.”

SSANU, NASU to protest Tuesday

Meanwhile, unions of non-academic staff members of the university declared on Sunday that they will be embarking on a nationwide protest starting from Thursday, July 18, 2024, over their withheld four-month salaries.

But before that, all branches of the non-academic unions under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee would protest at each of their branches on Tuesday.