The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has ended its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting held on Monday at the union headquarters, University of Abuja.
The meeting was called to decide on the way forward after the federal government paid half of October's salaries to members of ASUU.
The university lecturers had met to decide whether to restart another strike or not.
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke has not officially disclosed the outcome of the meeting which ended on Monday night.
However, a member of the NEC, who spoke in confidence with DAILY POST revealed that the union decided to give the Federal government some more time in deference to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila who pleaded with ASUU not to allow any more disruptions to the academic calendar of public universities.
The source said," the union decided to give the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at least two weeks to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue of the ‘No Work, No Pay policy.’
ASUU
"We are considering students who have already returned to the campuses. We resolved to give them more time to do the needful. I believe ASUU President should tell you more”, he added.
Vanguard reports that some members had pushed that a total and comprehensive strike be declared across the country's public universities, but the majority opposed the measure, arguing that it was no longer a smart idea given the current situation.
Opponents of another strike contended that it would be unfair to start the action again and force students who have already returned to their respective institutions after the action had been suspended earlier to return home.
Some members had argued that since the strike was put on hold at the Speaker's request after he meets with President Muhammadu Buhari, it would be improper to resume action while he (the Speaker) was still advocating for the federal government to reverse its decisions regarding the no-work, no-pay policy.
A source from the meeting told Vanguard that, “embarking on another round of strike was not considered an option in resolving the current issues with the federal government at the meeting.”
When asked about further details of the meeting he said: “You would hear the rest through the appropriate channel.
“As a body, we have people that speak for us. You will hear from them about what happened,” he said.
No Further Disruptions To University Academic Calendar Needed
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Monday said that the executive and the lower legislative chamber are taking steps to address the issues that caused the university lecturers to go on their recently called-off 8 months strike.
Gbajabiamila said the measures being taken include working on the 2023 Appropriation bill which includes an N170 billion package that will ensure some level of increment in the welfare package of the lecturers.
The Speaker was reacting to the outcry that greeted the payment of half salary for October to the university lecturers by the Federal Government.
While urging the lecturers to be patient with the government, Gbajabiamila assured that President Muhammadu Buhari has shown his desire to resolve all outstanding issues raised by the union.
The Speaker said; “When the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities, and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption. This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision.
“Since then, the Executive and the House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike. We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes N170 billion to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers. The Bill also includes an additional N300 billion in revitalization funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.
“Furthermore, the House of Representatives has convened the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and other stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
ASUU President shakes hands with Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila
"This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.”
He added “Nonetheless, interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers. We look forward to a favorable consideration by President Muhammadu Buhari, who has manifested his desire for what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.
“Implementing meaningful change takes time, especially when appropriations and modifications to systems such as IPPIS are required. Therefore, I urge all parties to be patient and grant each other the presumption of goodwill to the extent necessary to achieve our shared objectives. This is not a time for political brinkmanship.
"There is no more pressing objective than to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities. We must prevent this possibility by all means, as these disruptions risk the promise and potential of our nation’s youth, ” Gbajabiamila stated.
ASUU members had expressed shock at being paid only half their salaries for October.
The Nigerian government eventually explained that the academics were paid only for the number of days they worked in October prompting the ASUU National Executive Council to call a meeting to deliberate on the matter.
The UNIJOS chapter of ASUU earlier directed its members to stay at home until their withheld salaries are paid, saying that government payment of half salary to the lecturers after almost 9 months of strike and in contravention of the agreement reached with ASUU is an insult to the lecturers and casualization of their jobs.
Education
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