We’ve Not Decided Yet To Call Off Strike — ASUU President

It is still uncertain whether the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, will end soon as President of the union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi said there were certain steps to be taken to reach that final conclusion on the issue.

Professor Ogunyemi told Tribune (not ABN TV) in an exclusive interview on Saturday that even though government had agreed to drop the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for now in paying the lecturers’ outstanding salaries and continue with the test on their alternative University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and also pledged to offer additional N15 billion to the earlier N20 billion revitalisation funds, ASUU leadership would still need to table the offer before the congress for review and then take a position if satisfactory or not.

He said it was the Congress and not the leadership that makes decisions on behalf of the union, especially as regards the nature of the issue in focus.

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And when asked how soon would that be, he said “We are meeting government again next Friday which means we must have met internally on our own and then present our position on the offers to government before we can then take final decision as regards our ongoing strike.”

He said he would not want to pre-empt the congress decision on the matter.

However, the chairman of ASUU in charge of University of Lagos (UNILAG) branch, Akoka, Dr Dele Ashiru said in an exclusive interview that the branch was yet to be contacted officially by the leadership of the union.

He, however, noted that ASUU does not rely on media reports from the government’s side but from the leadership of the union.

“And I believe in the coming days, we shall consider the outcome of last meeting of our union with the government to know what next,” Ashiru said.