Strike: ASUU Counters Minister Of Education, Dares FG

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Post created on 1:44 pm

 

 

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

The university lecturers 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.”

The union’s national president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this 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.

Recall 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.

Adamu had told State House correspondents on Thursday that the government would not pay the lecturers for the period of strike.

But 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 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, 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.”

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says students are already consulting lawyers in order to sue the federal government and Adamu Adamu, minister of education.

On Thursday, Adamu also said students affected by the strike of ASUU should sue the union.

Reacting to the minister’s statement on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Friday, Osodeke said students know that the problem is with the government and not the union.

He said, “You need to read the response by the president of NANS, Comrade Asefon. He said ASUU is not their problem that their problem is the government and if they must sue anybody, they are actually doing that, they are consulting lawyers, they are going to sue the minister of education and the federal government for forcing ASUU who is an employee of the system and fighting for their (students) interest,” he said.

The president of ASUU said the issues the union raised can be resolved in a day if the government is committed to the education of the youths.

“What we are saying is that we can resolve this issue within one day as Jonathan did in 2013,” he said.

“When it got to this stage in 2013, Jonathan summoned everybody to hear the truth. He heard the truth and we resolved the issue within one night.

“That can be done at this level either by a committee or people that are patriotic, not these ministers that already have bias. We can resolve this issue in one day and our children will go back to school.”