The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said the union was not going to call off its six-month old strike action as done by the other university-based unions.
Chairman of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) ASUU branch, Dr Dele Ashiru, stated this in an interview on Arise TV, monitored on Sunday by CAMPUS GIST.
He was reacting to the reported suspension of strike action by other unions in the university system. The unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Union of Education and Associated Institutions, NASU.
Recall that the Joint Action Committee, JAC, of both NASU and SSANU, had on Saturday, announced the suspension of strike effective from Wednesday, August 24, 2022, for initial two months.
The suspension of the strike, according to a statement by the JAC’s spokesman, Prince Peters Adeyemi, followed the conclusion of negotiation between the two unions and the Federal Government team, led by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.
The statement explained that the two months was to allow government implement the agreements reached.
But, the UNILAG ASUU chairman insisted that his union will not toe the line of SSANU and NASU, as ASUU is body of intellectuals.
He said, “ASUU is a union of intellectuals, we don’t look at what others do to make our decisions. We make our decisions based on verifiable facts and the facts available to us have not shown this government to be a responsible and sensible one.”
Ashiru revealed that more than 70 per cent of the brightest brains in academia had left the country, adding that the government had been so disrespectful and insensitive to the scholars.
“The impact of the government’s insensitivity and deployment of the weapon of hunger might not be immediately known until after the strike. As I speak with you, more than 70 per cent of bright and promising young academics retained by the university through mentorship have all left the country for greener pastures due to the poor conditions of service in Nigeria.
“Those that are left are on the verge of leaving. No government in the history of Nigeria has been so insensitive, brash and disrespectful of the best brains in the country. This is unfortunate and a shame,” the ASUU chairman lamented.
