ASUU Strike: “No Agreement Has Been Signed” – Osodeke

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) president, Emmanuel Osodeke, has admitted that the main reason they decided to call off their eight-month strike was due to a court order.

ASUU has been on strike since February 14 to press for increased university funding and a review of lecturers’ salaries, among other demands.

On October 7, the Abuja Court of Appeal ordered the union to end its strike.

The ASUU national executive council (NEC) announced the suspension of the strike on Friday.

However, the union stated that some of its issues remain unresolved.

Speaking on Channels TV’s ‘Sunday Politics’ on Sunday, Osodeke said the union hopes the government will do the right thing now that the ASUU strike has been called off.

He went on to say that, despite interventions from Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, “the major reason we are resuming is because we are obeying the court order”.

“The issues have not been fully resolved and no agreement has been signed. So, we are resuming because we are a law abiding body and we don’t want to break the law. We are also hoping that the intervention of the speaker, as promised by him, will resolve these problems in a very short time,” he added.

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When asked if this means the lecturers are not happy to be resuming, Osodeke said: “Definitely”.

“In trade dispute, especially one involving university academics, the best option is negotiation and then you end it within a very short time,” he said.

“But the minister of labour believes that the best way is to force them to class. It’s so sad, but because of the interest of the Nigerian students, their parents, and the speaker, our members will teach.

“Any country that plays with education creates room for insecurity.

“We want the next administration to follow the trend of neighbouring countries and allocate not less than 16 percent of the budget to education. When this is done, these problems will be sorted out. Our children will go to school effortlessly.”