The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday said the Federal Government’s appeal for the union to shelve its planned warning strike came too late.
ASUU President, Dr. Chris Piwuna, stated this while speaking on The Morning Brief, a Channels Television programme.
Piwuna blamed the government’s failure to engage the union promptly as the reason for the breakdown in dialogue, adding that the Ministry of Education only responded two days before the strike deadline.
“The problem we have with this government and this Ministry of Education is that they are slow in responding to our demands,” he said.
He explained that following an earlier meeting in Sokoto, the union agreed to give the government a three-week window for engagement. However, according to him, no word was heard from the government until the period elapsed.
“Not a word from them, not even the courtesy to say, ‘Gentlemen, we are running short of time.’ Nothing, until we threatened action.
“Yesterday, they appealed to us not to embark on action. Our 2009 agreement — which is still being renegotiated after eight years — remains unfinished. And now, two working days to a strike, you come to appeal to us. I think the appeal has come a little too late,” Piwuna said.
The union is demanding the full implementation of the 2009 agreement, improved funding of public universities, and payment of withheld salaries and allowances, among others.
Efforts to get comments from the Ministry of Education were unsuccessful as officials declined to respond at the time of filing this report.
ASUU has insisted that its proposed warning strike will go ahead unless concrete steps are taken immediately to address its concerns.
