Our Hope For Resolution Of Demands Dashing, ASUU Laments

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed disappointment as talks with the Federal Government appear to be going nowhere, warning that its hope for a historic resolution to their long-standing demands is increasingly being dashed.

Speaking in Kano, ASUU Kano Zonal Coordinator Abdulkadir Muhammad lamented the slow pace of negotiations, stating that the union would resume its nationwide strike if an agreement is not reached with the Federal Government at the expiration of its one-month ultimatum.

The lecturers had in October suspended their warning strike with a month-long ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands, which centered around their welfare and providing a conducive teaching and learning environment.

Muhammad decried what he described as a sluggish approach to renegotiating key agreements aimed at revitalizing Nigeria’s public university system.

The meeting, which had representatives from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; Bayero University Kano (BUK); and Kaduna State University (KASU), among others, reviewed the progress of negotiations.

Muhammad said this followed the report presented at ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Nov. 8 and 9 at Taraba State University. He said NEC expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the ongoing renegotiation between the union and the government, describing it as a major obstacle to concluding the process meaningfully.

“The suspension of the strike in October was meant to create an enabling environment and a gesture of goodwill toward Nigerians. However, our hope for a holistic and timely resolution of the issues is increasingly being dashed,” Muhammad said.

He expressed disappointment that some government functionaries were employing tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of their engagements.

“The government has yet to show genuine commitment to improving lecturers’ welfare or addressing the conditions that fuel brain drain in the university system. What government has offered will neither improve the working conditions of academics nor attract scholars from other countries to our universities,” he said.

Muhammad also faulted government officials for claiming that ASUU’s demands had been met, saying such claims were far from the truth. He urged the Federal Government to place a moratorium on the establishment of state universities, as it did for federal universities.

“Governors have cultivated the habit of establishing universities in their states without commitment to funding them,” he said.