The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has been agitating for improved funding of the education sector and better welfare for its members, appears poised to embark on a national strike following the expiration of its 14-day ultimatum on Sunday.
This development comes as members of the union at the University of Jos protested on Tuesday, urging the Federal Government to act swiftly to avert the impending industrial action.
The protest, which began around 11 am, disrupted ongoing Second Semester examinations as union members marched through the university community, singing solidarity songs.
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Let ASUU members breathe,” “Pay our promotion arrears,” “Adequate funding of universities, is that hard?” “End ASUU strike now,” “Sign Nimi Briggs MOA,” “IPPIS is a fraud, migrate us now,” and “Tinubu, release our revitalization fund,” among others.
University students joined the protest in solidarity.
The protesters later converged at the Senate building of the university, where they were received by top management, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Tanko Ishaya, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), and Registrar Dr. Rejoice Songden.
Leading the protest, ASUU Vice Chairman at the University of Jos, Prof. Kiri Jaryum, told the Vice Chancellor that members had endured enough suffering and maltreatment by the Federal Government.
He emphasized that the union could no longer tolerate the situation if the government failed to address their demands at the end of the 14-day ultimatum given by ASUU’s National Executive Committee.
“Our protest today at the University of Jos is in line with the 14-day ultimatum given by the National Executive Committee of ASUU and activities to be carried out by the various branches.
As we are here, other branches within the Bauchi zone of ASUU, which comprises six universities, are doing the same thing,” Jaryum stated.
He handed over a 9-point demand to the Vice Chancellor for onward delivery to the Federal Government, listing the items in the protest letter.
These include the need for the government to pay earned academic allowances budgeted for in 2023, the revitalization fund, and the salaries of members excluded from the IPPIS platform.
Other demands are for the government to stop the proliferation of universities, increase stagnant salaries of the past 15 years, and return to the negotiation table to sign the Nimi Briggs committee agreement, among others.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Tanko Ishaya, who received the protest letter, thanked ASUU members for their peaceful protest.
He expressed support for all the demands and promised to include an additional point before submitting the letter to the Federal Government.
“I can assure you that we are going to submit this protest letter by ASUU to the Federal Government verbatim.
I can tell you that all the 9 points you have listed here have affected all members of the university community in one way or the other.
I can tell you that some of us here are also being owed some months’ salaries.
So, we are suffering, and we understand what your demands are.
In forwarding this letter, I’m also going to include item number 10 because the University of Jos can no longer provide electricity with the recent increment in the electricity tariff,” the VC stated.
The Nigerianewstoday.com reports that ASUU had on Tuesday threatened a nationwide strike, giving the government a two-week ultimatum to reconstitute the governing councils of federal universities.
The Federal Government responded by announcing the constitution of new governing councils for federal universities and other institutions in the country.
However, ASUU rejected the government’s action, insisting that its demands had not been met.
