The Puzzle of the ASUU Strike
Nine meetings down the line with a yet-to-be-clear decision about the strike, will students stay at home or return to their academics? All depends on one board – ASUU. Well, from the recent meetings being held by the board, promising results seem to be at the corner.
Deliberation of the Board
As of Tuesday, 22nd of December, ASUU representatives and relevant stakeholders delegated by the government held a closed-door meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment in a conference room. What was being discussed? With an opening speech the minister, Mr Chris Ngige expressed confidence enough that the strike would surely be dissolved by January 2021, and that all other issues will be resolved and finalized in the subsequent meetings. Can we also be as confident as the minister?
ORIGIN OF THE STRIKE
It will be good for us to talk briefly about how these issues began. As we know, in the wake of the break- out of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Monday, the 9th of March, ASUU began a two-week warning strike to protests non-payment of salaries to lecturers who are not enrolled in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS program) put in place by the federal government to monitor transparency in the academic sector.
However, an argument being brought forward by the lecturers is that the IPPIS programme is not convenient for lecturers.
The dispute at Previous Meetings and how they Are resolved
The previous meetings being held had some heated arguments between the union (ASUU) and the FG officials over the withheld salaries not paid over eight months. The federal government promised to pay the members of the union (ASUU) a sum of 40 billion nairas as earned allowances and 30 billion nairas for the welfare of school facilities and for creating a conducive environment for students. However, the lecturers would not acquiesce to this offer. They insisted on the payment of the withheld salaries for the past eight months. This led to the Federal Government agreeing to those terms but on the condition that the lecturers resume work at the classrooms. But would they agree? A Big NO, showing their distrust for the government, they demanded to be paid before the resumption of duty.
How would this be resolved? , how will this drama unfold? As mentioned earlier, the minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has been optimistic and has confirmed payment of some lecturers’ salaries, and is expecting a reciprocation of such kind gesture by the lecturers.
Control Culture of the COVID pandemic
With the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, what steps will the union (ASUU) and the FG take to establish a control culture among students to avoid the spread of the virus within the school environs? In the meeting held on Tuesday, the 22nd of December the union (ASUU) and the FG decided that the school authorities will take safety measures to combat the risk of spreading the virus in the school.
Procedures to Finalize the Strike
The strike will be finalized by protocols set by the union (ASUU). The national president of the union Biodun Ogunyemi said that the members of the union who were in the meeting with the delegated officials were not in the position to call off the strike but that procedures had to be followed to suspend the strike.
He mentioned that whatever offer the government would put out will be brought forth before the various branches of the union and will be deliberated and reviewed upon by the union and they are going to come up with their stand on the offer being presented. The resolution will be presented in the next meeting.
These are the conclusions for now, will the strike be called off? Will students return? Watch out for more articles on this.
