ASUU meets August 1, strike enters 155th day

 ASUU meets August 1, strike enters 155th day

The MEDIA has reliable information that the National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities will convene in the first week of August 2022.

According to information obtained by our correspondent, the conference will decide whether to stop or prolong the strike, which will mark its 155th day on Tuesday (today).

According to The MEDIA, ASUU began its industrial action on February 14, 2022, as a result of what the union claimed was the government's refusal to fulfill certain of its demands.

Dr. Gbolahan Bolarin, the chapter chairman of ASUU at Federal University of Technology in Minna, confirmed the meeting's date and time to our correspondent on Monday.

The summit will take place on either July 30 or August 1, 2022, according to Bolarin.

The government had been warned by ASUU not to allow the deployment of the Universities Transparency Accountability System and to allow tertiary institutions to proliferate.

In addition, the union had pushed for the publication of the White Paper of the panels that would tour institutions as well as the provision of cash for revitalizing universities.

Recently, the union was accused of entering into an unfair arrangement with the Federal Government through the Prof. Nimi Briggs committee by Chris Ngige, minister of labor and employment.

Bolarin, however, ruled out the idea of the strike being put on hold before to the NEC meeting.

He claims that the administration has not presented any information that could have influenced this choice.

Because the Federal Government has not yet responded, we are not even at the point where we can vote on whether to continue or not.

Early in the following month, the NEC will meet (August). August 1 should be the date. He even suggested that the meeting take place on July 30.

NUC assigns vice chancellors

The National Institutions Commission, in the meantime, on Monday urged vice chancellors to support continued efforts by the Federal Ministry of Education, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, and other stakeholders to terminate the ongoing strike in the nation's public universities.

Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the commission's executive secretary, made the request in Abuja at the start of the 2022 NUC management retreat with vice chancellors of Nigerian universities.

Rasheed stated, "The terrible strike has put our colleges in a precarious position.

"The ASUU strike is in its sixth month, and as vice chancellors, we are aware of the detrimental effects of prolonged university closures. In terms of its impact on a country's economy, we are aware of what it signifies.

"As vice chancellors, we are aware of the implications for the future of our students and the standing of our school.

Success and a country's economy are fundamentally reliant on higher education. In order to achieve their aims, nations investigate teaching, research, and community development.

Rasheed was brought by a few vice chancellors to a stakeholders' meeting on the ASUU strike right after the retreat's beginning.

The ASUU chairperson responded, "That is about the only problem," when asked if the union would talk about the current strike.

As of the time this article was filed, the Ministry of Education's spokesperson, Ben Goong, has not responded to The MEDIA questions about the strike's status.