ASUU protest, threatens strike action, gives FG 2 weeks ultimatum to complete 2009 renegotiated agreement 

By Lovina Anthony, Akwa-ibom

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Uyo branch has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to complete the 2009 renegotiated agreement it had with the union or risk industrial action.

The Nations News Nigeria reports that association made this known during a public sensitization protest that took place at the University of Uyo town campus on wednesday.

The Chairperson of ASUU, Opeyemi Olajide who spoke during the protest recalled that in 2022, Public Universities embarked on eighth months strike over the issue and had to come back to classrooms in obedience to rule of law regretting that two years after; federal government seemed adamant to complete the agreement and attend to their demands.

He explained that the union reached out to relevant authorities to intervene and make the government do the needful to avert any disruption to academic activities, but, there was no positive result stressing that if after two weeks nothing was done, the union will shut down the universities and send the students home.

“We are telling the government and the public that if in the next two weeks nothing is done, ASUU is going to embark on yet another strike and students will be sent home.”

The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Calabar zone, Happiness Uduk addressing the protest disclosed that the Federal government still owes lecturers in public schools three and half months salary.

She noted that public universities are not functional as expected when compared with the private universities urging the federal government to make deliberate efforts to resuscitate the public educational system.

According to her, “Enough is enough! The government is not taking care of public institutions yet they are establishing their own private universities where they are taking our resources to, where they are taking our taxpayers monies to. Federal government has about two weeks to do something and if not so, ASUU will down tools, that is what we want to tell people that it is not well with us, 

we are asking the government to pay us our EAA, they should care for universities they brought and not to bring up more universities without taking care of them.”

On his part, the former Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Aniekan Brown said the union over the years had been clamouring for “education for all.” He noted that the workload of lecturers are not commensurate with their pay and called for an increment of salary.

Brown lamented that despite the meagre and static salaries given, the rate of taxation by the FG was unbearable as a lecturer pays upto 90 percent of his/her salary as tax.

His words, “It’s quite sad that some lecturers have upto 48 credit loads per week, they teach on Saturdays, and yet their take home pay will not take them home. I want to say that it’s not possible for one to work on an empty stomach. The last time something was added to our salaries was in 2009 and as a Christian, only one Being is the same yesterday, today and forever which is Almighty God, but the Federal Government is compelling our salaries to compete with God and as a Christian I stand against that.

Also speaking, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Akwa Ibom State University Chapter, Inyang Udosen said the union joined the protest in solidarity with the University of Uyo and other public universities pointing out some challenges bedeviling the State University even as he called on Akwa Ibom State government to increase their wages to meet the current economic realities.