ASUU warns of nationwide varsity shutdown as negotiation stalls

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned that it will resume its nationwide strike if agreement was not reached with the Federal Government at the expiration of its one month ultimatum.

ASUU, Kano Zonal Coordinator, Abdulkadir Muhammad, gave the warning on Tuesday in Kano during a news conference after the zone`s meeting.

The lecturers in October suspended their warning strike with a month-long ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands which centred around their welfare and providing conducive teaching and learning environment.

Muhammad decried what he described as a sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s public university system.

The meeting had representatives from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; Bayero University Kano (BUK); Kaduna State University (KASU).

Others were Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology (ADUSTECH), Wudil, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Northwest University (NWU), Kano; and Sule Lamido University (SLUK), Kafin Hausa.

Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Nov. 8 and 9 at Taraba State University.

He said NEC expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the ongoing renegotiation between the union and the government, describing it as a major obstacle to concluding the process meaningfully.

He said the suspension of the strike in October was meant to create and enabling environment and a gesture of goodwill toward Nigerians.

“However, our hope for a holistic and timely resolution of the issues is increasingly being dashed.

“It is unfortunate that some government functionaries employ different tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of our engagements,” he told newsmen.

He said that government had yet to show genuine commitment to improving lecturers’ welfare or addressing the conditions that fuel brain drain in the university system.

“What government has offered will neither improve the working conditions of academics nor attract scholars from other countries to our universities,” he said.

According to him, it is unfortunate that some government officials claim that ASUU demands have been met.

He urged the Federal Government to place a moratorium on the establishment of state universities as it did for federal universities.

“Governors have cultivated the habit of establishing universities in their states without commitment to funding them,” he said.