The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended, conditionally, its 8-month-old strike embarked on since February 14th this year, with public universities expected to reopen on Monday, the 17th October, 2022.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that ASUU suspended the strike following its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that was held on Thursday into Friday morning with the President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke expected to announce the suspension of the strike at noon today.
Speaking on ASUU’s decision after the meeting held at the ASUU secretariat in Abuja, a highly informed source within the NEC said, “Yes, it has been called off”. When asked for more details, the source said, “the president will release an official circular in the morning”.
Recall that after meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives over the lingering strike embarked upon by lecturers, ASUU had hinted the strike will likely be called off this week and the institutions fully re-opened next week for academic activities in the country.
ASUU had expressed optimism that the intervention by the House of Representatives in the face-off with the Federal Government would yield desired results.
Prof Osodeke, who spoke when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, briefed the union in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said, “For the first time, we have seen light at the end of the tunnel.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education had previously given a hint that ASUU will likely call off its ongoing strike while confirming negotiations are still ongoing between the Federal Government and the union.
Adamu confirmed that the government has agreed to release the balance of N23billion Earned Allowances to the striking lecturers.
The Minister said that the Ministry of Finance has promised to undertake a forensic audit of the N30billion allowance earlier released to the lecturers, bringing the total to N53billion, speaking at a separate meeting with the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFund),.