ASUU STRIKE: Hope of calling of the Six months old and still ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) seem to be failing, as the University lecturers dare federal government, insisting on full payment of salary for the Six months of strike period, or no resumption.

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What We Know

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Thursday insisted that it would not call off its strike until the salary arrears of its members were paid.

ASUU also said they would not teach students to make up for the six months they had been on strike if the Federal Government failed to pay for the “period of strike.”

According to Prof Emmanuel Osodeke who spoke on behalf of ASUU in response to a statement by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, that the Federal Government would not concede to ASUU’s demands for the backlog of salaries withheld within the period of the strike.

Catch-up

Clariform recalls that ASUU embarked on a one-month warning strike on February 14. However, the union has extended the strike several times in the past six months.

Other associations such as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions, and National Association of Academic Technologists later followed suit, shutting down public universities nationwide.

Recall that we earlier reported that the minister of education on Thursday told State House correspondents that the government would not pay the lecturers for the period of the strike.

Notable Quote

Osodeke while reacting to the government’s position, Osodeke said:

“He is joking. If they fail to pay, we will not teach those students; we won’t make up for that period. We will start a new session (2022/2023). We won’t conduct examinations; we will start a fresh session totally.”

“Lecturers are not doctors that once life is gone, it can’t be brought back. For lecturers, we can still resume where we stopped and still teach them and make up for the lost time. But for us, if they fail to pay we won’t make up for the lost time. We won’t go back to fill backlogs; the schools will start a new session, in 2022/2023. Examinations and the period lost won’t be taught.”

He added: ”If they want to do ‘no work no pay,’ we will also do ‘no pay no work.’ If they won’t pay the backlog, we won’t teach the backlog. We are not like other workers. He doesn’t know what he is saying.”