The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has further extended its ongoing strike, following a heated meeting of its National Executive Council at the union’s headquarters at the University of Abuja.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that a reliable source, who attended the meeting, disclosed this while revealing that the union was divided about whether to sustain the demands the union has put before the government or sustain the fight until all its prayers are met.
The source, who is a frontline member of the Union in one of the federal universities located in North Central Nigeria, said ASUU Chairman, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke is, however, under pressure to call a truce and return to classrooms.
The source noted that the union is refusing to yield because of its past experience with the government which has reneged on past promises.
“Apart from pending issues of allowance and the back-and-forth about whether the government would pay the backlog of arrears of salaries owed our members, there are commitments that are to the benefits of Nigerian universities that we are not getting.
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“Ironically, these things are not to the benefits of any individual lecturer, but that of the universities,” the source said.
Principal officers and branch chairmen arrived in Abuja on Sunday for the make or mar crucial NEC meeting, to determine the fate of millions of Nigerian students who have been at home since February 14, 2022.
Ahead of the crucial meeting, branch congresses were held on Tuesday and Wednesday across universities in the country, the resolutions of which were discussed at the NEC meeting.
Already, some state universities such as Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso and Delta State University have pulled out of the ongoing strike. Lagos State University, Osun State University and others did not participate in the strike.
Another close source said: “Aside from two universities that voted against the continuation of the industrial action, many others have backed the declaration of the indefinite strike as against the roll-over that the union commenced on February 14 2022”.
TNG gathered that the federal government is mounting serious pressure on ASUU leadership using prominent Nigerians for the suspension of its six-month strike.
One of the branch chairmen who spoke on condition of anonymity said that details of the NEC decision would be made public by Monday evening. He acknowledged the lobby by some prominent Nigerians on behalf of the government to bring the strike to an end.