The update on ASUU Strike that commenced on
1st July, 2013 is that representatives of
University lecturers will on Monday, meet again
with Lawmakers and Ministers to try to resolve
the issues surrounding the ongoing strike.
Here is the new as reported by Premium Times:
Striking university lecturers will on Monday
hold a crucial meeting with federal lawmakers
and ministers, their leader has said.
The National President of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Nasir
Fagge, told PREMIUM TIMES the union would
meet with the members of the joint National
Assembly education committee on Monday.
Monday’s scheduled meeting follows the walk
out by the university lecturers from an earlier
one on Tuesday . The Tuesday meeting was
attended by members of the Senate and House
of Representatives Committee on Education, as
well as the ministers of education and labour.
The lecturers said they were kept waiting for
over two hours by the lawmakers and they had
to leave because they had another
appointment.
“The meeting was slated for 1:00 p.m. When
we arrived, we met two people there – a
member of the house committee on education
and Executive Secretary for National Board of
Technical Education. We waited for 30 minutes
and were told to go and wait at the office of
(Senator) Chukwumerije. We left the complex
around 3:30 p.m. because we were going to
attend another meeting slated for 3 p.m.,” Mr.
Fagge told PREMIUM TIMES.
“They (NASS members) called yesterday
(Wednesday) to say the meeting has been
rescheduled for Monday.”
The don, however, refused to say if the
outcome of the meeting would affect the strike
in any way.
“I don’t act on speculations. I like crossing my
bridge when I get there. We cannot say. If we
do, it means we’re not attending with an open
mind. Our union is a union of intellectuals; we
engage in dialogue with an open mind. We
would decide on the next course of action after
the meeting.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Fagge said the union does not
owe the legislator any apologies for Tuesday’s
failed negotiation. The lawmakers had
described the lecturers as “snubs” for allegedly
walking out on them.
“It is arrogant of them to snub us knowing that
this meeting is in the interest of our children. I
suggest that a strong-worded letter be written
to the union to tell them that we are not happy
with their action,” said House of Representative
member, Jerry Alagbaoso (PDP-Imo).
However, Mr. Fagge said they never met the
legislators so it was wrong for them to say that
ASUU representatives walked out on them.
“How can you walk out from a meeting if you’re
not in the same place with the other party?” he
asked. “Unless my understanding of English is
faulty, you can walk out on somebody when
you’re at the same place at the same time.
They were having their meeting in the
committee’s room; we were at Uche
Chukwumerijie’s (senate committee on
education chairman) office. They kept us
waiting for two hours thirty minutes. How could
we have walked out on them? So, if we didn’t
walk out on them there is no basis of
demanding for an apology,” he said.
ASUU declared an indefinite strike last Tuesday
based on the refusal of government to honour
the terms of a 2009 agreement and a 2012
memorandum of understanding it signed with
the lecturers for improved welfare and
increased funding for universities.
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