The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted that it would not call off its strike action until the Federal Government fulfils its promise and pays all the withheld salaries of its members.
According to reports, this disclosure was made by its President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, during a telephone interview on Sunday, December 6, 2020, in Lagos, where he said the government should not expect the lecturers to resume without paying the withheld salaries.
Ogunyemi explained that the university lecturers were still consulting and at the same time waiting for the government to fulfil its promise of releasing the withheld salaries of members of the union.
While stating that the union would take a final decision once the timeline expired this week without the salaries being paid, Ogunyemi also pointed out that he could not determine when ASUU would suspend the strike.
It could be recalled that there were media reports on November 27 that ASUU had agreed to call off its 8-month old strike action, following the Federal Government’s promise to increase its offer for Earned Allowances and funding for the revitalization of public universities from N65 billion to N70 billion.
However, a day later, the ASUU President denied that the union had agreed to call off the strike. He said it was only agreed that the union would convey the government’s message to their various organs and then report back to the government. It also said that the payment of outstanding salaries must not be done through the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS).
