The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) leadership has denied being made aware of any scheduled meetings with the Federal Government.
This runs counter to Thursday’s rumors that the FG had planned a meeting with the Union.
Reports of the meeting were referred to as “social media news” in an interview with reporters by Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of ASUU.
“We are not aware of any meeting. There is no meeting, nobody was invited so we don’t know. It’s social media news,” he said.
In response to a claim that the ASUU strike will soon be over, Chri Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said, Osodeke said the union had not spoken to Ngige in a very long time because he had abandoned them to further his political goal.
The ASUU President was referring to Ngige’s unsuccessful attempt to run for President under the All Progressives Congress, which is currently in power (APC).
“We are not aware of that. We are discussing with the Minister of Education. Since he (Ngige) left us, we have made progress. I hope he’s not coming back now to destroy the whole process.
“We are not aware of anything he’s saying, we have not spoken to him for a long time, he abandoned the whole thing when he was running for President, that’s part of the reason why this whole thing was delayed for this long. Now he wants to come back and disrupt the whole process. He should just stay back and continue to pursue his political ambition and leave us alone. We don’t want him back,” he said.
The ASUU President also provided greater context for the Union’s choice to distance itself from Ahmed Isah, an Abuja radio personality known as “Ordinary President,” and his fundraising initiative.
Isah’s N18 billion crowdfunding campaign was rejected by Osodeke. The campaign was immediately put on hold after being rejected.
According to Osodeke, “We (ASUU) have no problem with his integrity in whatever he is doing. He has a right to do it, what we are saying is he should not bring ASUU in without our permission. Like I said there, any organization or person has a right to set up their foundation that you can use to do whatever you want in the name of your organization but not in the name of ASUU. That is the only problem we have with him.”
Given the current economic situation in Nigeria, he said, he did not think it was appropriate for anyone to make a sizable cash donation in the name of ASUU. He made this statement in regard to the claimed N50 million cash payment made by Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom State, as part of the fundraiser that was promoted by Isah during one of his radio programs.
“We don’t have a problem with the intention, the problem we have is putting us in without our permission, and using our name. Is it right for someone to bring N50 million in cash in Nigeria and put on the floor? It’s not right and that’s why we dissociated ourselves from it completely,” he said.
Isah would have discussed the best way to move through with the fundraising effort if she had first sought authorization from ASUU, according to Osodeke.
We would have considered it at our meeting and made a decision if he had requested permission beforehand, the man claimed.
When asked for an update on ASUU’s talks with the committee tasked with revising the FG-ASUU agreement from 2009, Osodeke responded that they had finished meeting and negotiating with them and were now awaiting government permission.
“We have finished meeting and negotiating with them, they are going back to get permission to sign the document, that’s what we are waiting for,” he said.
On February 14, 2022, ASUU suspended academic operations in federal universities, citing a number of requests that the FG had not complied with as justification.
Paying salary arrears, improving working conditions, renegotiating the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement, paying earned academic allowances, raising money to revitalize public universities, paying promotion arrears, and inadequate funding of state universities are only a few of the demands.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists are among the other tertiary institution unions that are also on strike (NAAT).
On Wednesday, SSANU and NASU announced a two-month extension of their strike, adding that it would terminate if the Federal Government complied with members’ requests.
The NASU and SSANU chairs issued a circular to its members urging them to maintain the spirit as they inch closer to victory.
“Consequently, you are hereby informed that the strike has been extended by two months, within which we are hoping that all the contentious issues would have been effectively laid to rest. The two-month extension is with effect from Friday, June 24, 2022.
“We urge you to keep up the spirit across the branches as we are slowly inching close to victory,” the circular read.
