ASUU ends warning strike

<p><strong>The <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;Openlife&period;ng">Academic Staff Union of Universities&comma; &lpar;ASUU&rpar;<&sol;a> will end its eight-week warning strike <&sol;strong><strong>on Monday as the union is set to embark on an indefinite industrial action&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources said the national leadership of the union would make public its decision on Monday&comma; <em>Vanguard<&sol;em> reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was gathered that the National Executive Committee &lpar;NEC&rpar; of the union had earlier given the go-ahead to the national leadership to call out members on indefinite strike if nothing tangible was achieved during the eight weeks of their warning strike&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The union had earlier gone on a month warning strike on February 14 this year&comma; and extended it by another eight weeks which comes to an end on Monday&comma; May 9&comma; 2022&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While ASUU was into the second round of its warning strike&comma; other staff unions in the university system also embarked on strike&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities&comma; SSANU&comma; the National Association of Academic Technologists&comma; NAAT&comma; and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Allied Institutions&comma; NASU&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Though the Minister of Labour and Employment&comma; Dr Chris Ngige&comma; had met with the leadership of SSANU&comma; NAAT&comma; and NASU&comma; nothing concrete came out of the meetings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He is yet to meet with ASUU leadership&comma; though he announced last weekend that he would meet with them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When contacted&comma; the National President of ASUU&comma; Prof&period; Emmanuel Osodeke&comma; said the union had not got an invitation from the government’s team as of the weekend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We too heard it in the news what the Minister of Labour said about meeting with us&comma; but as we talk&comma; nobody has reached out to us for any meeting&period; We don’t know when the meeting will be called&period; However&comma; I think before going to the press to announce any proposed meeting&comma; what ought to have been done is to inform us&period; Anyway&comma; we are waiting for the meeting when it is called&comma;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em> he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Asked what would be the next line of action&comma; Osodeke said the national leadership of the union would decide that&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on the situation&comma; the National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria&comma; NAPTAN&comma; Alhaji Haruna Danjuma&comma; expressed disgust with the continued closure of the universities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We cannot continue to waste the time of our children&period; They are staying much at home than in school now&period; It is unfortunate that we are yet to get over the issue of the closure of our higher institutions incessantly&period; That is a minus for the system&period; How do we expect foreigners to respect our certificates&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Incidentally&comma; it is not everybody that can afford to send their children abroad to study&period; We must make our education sector work and put an end to this rot&period; We plead with the government and the university workers to find a mid-course and resolve this issue and let academic activities resume in these institutions<&sol;strong><&sol;em>&comma; ” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;