The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned that it will resume its nationwide strike if an agreement is not reached with President Bola Tinubu’s 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 suspended their warning strike in October with a month-long ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands, which centred around their welfare and the provision of a conducive teaching and learning environment.
Mr Muhammad decried what he described as a sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s public university system.
The meeting was attended by representatives from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Bayero University, Kano; Kaduna State University; Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil; Federal University, Dutse; Northwest University, Kano; and Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa.
Mr Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council meeting, held on November 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 in a meaningful manner.
He stated that the suspension of the strike in October was intended to create an 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 journalists.
He said that the government had yet to show a 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’s demands have been met.
He urged the federal government to place a moratorium on the establishment of state universities, as it had done for federal universities.
“Governors have cultivated the habit of establishing universities in their states without commitment to funding them,” he said.
(NAN)
