By Cross Udo, Abuja
After 197 days of down tools, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday declared its strike indefinite.

The decision to again extend the strike for the fourth time was taken after the union’s National Executive Council met at its headquarters at the University of Abuja.

The union embarked on the strike on February 14 demanding a renegotiation of agreements reached between it and the government in 2009.

It is also demanding that government should shelve the payment of members’ salaries using its Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) through which it pays its employees.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has faulted the action of the university lecturers ‘union.

But ASUU is asking the government to instead adopt the union’s payment platform option, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

The university lecturers announced the extension of the strike, after accusing the Federal Government of failing to live up to its term in the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement it signed with it.

Although the union was yet to come out with an official statement or address the media on the fallouts of its meeting which began late Sunday and stretched into early yesterday, some members who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that the meeting ended with a resolution to go on indefinite strike.

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A member of the NEC said a formal position of the union in respect of the NEC meeting would be communicated through ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who he said was the person with the responsibility to do so.

He said, “We resolved in our just concluded NEC meeting that we should make the ongoing strike indefinite since the federal government has failed to show any commitment to addressing the grey areas that led us to this action. Our President, as usual, would communicate this among other decisions to the public through the media.”

•We’ve met 80% of their demands-FG

Reacting to the development, the Federal Government said the FG had addressed 80 percent of the union’s demands, noting that the extension of the strike was unreasonable.

A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Ben Goong, told newsmen that the government had taken all possible steps to end the strike.

Goong said, “If you bring some demands and almost 80% have been attended to, there is no need to drag the strike anymore.”

According to him,” It is unreasonable for the strike to be lingering since the government has worked towards fulfilling most of the demands.”

Goong, who noted the Federal Government has deployed all measures to end the strike, said, “As regards the next steps, the government has already inaugurated a committee to harmonize the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), and the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System (U3PS).

He explained,” This will ensure that the government will pay with only one payment platform that will harmonise all the technical peculiarities.”

Recall that the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, had last week claimed that the government had resolved most of the demands ASUU.

Among the demands addressed, according to Adamu, was the release of N50bn for the payment of earned allowances for academic and non-academic and non-academic staff of universities.

Recall also that the ongoing strike which had been rolled over in the past, began on February 14th, 2022, after parties failed to reach an agreement.

•Membership of striking union not compulsory for state varsities, pro-chancellors warn
Meanwhile, the Committee of Pro-chancellors of state universities yesterday said state universities could not be coerced to implement the agreement reached between the Federal Government and lecturers in federal universities under the umbrella of ASUU.

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The pro-chancellors further said there was a need for the democratisation of memberships of unions in the universities, noting that state varsities’ membership was voluntary.

In a communique yesterday, the pro-chancellors said, “The Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-owned Universities read with alarm and disbelieve a statement made by the President of the ASUU Prof. Emmanuel Osodike on a television programme on Arise, where he said that State Universities are “irrelevant and quacks” on 26th August 2022.

“Our first reaction was to ignore this tendentious, ill-conceived, and flagrant unconscionable statement by the President of ASUU, but on reflection, it was thought necessary to do a rejoinder to this rather unfortunate statement having regard to the position of the President of ASUU in the scheme of things in our University system in Nigeria.

“Though COPSUN will not want to go into any diatribe with the President of ASUU, the Committee wishes to state as follows to put records straight:

“That the Pro-Chancellors of our State Universities and indeed members of the councils are distinguished and accomplished eminent persons who served and still serve this Nation in many capacities. Amongst the members are retired Ambassadors, retired Generals in the Armed forces, retired Vice-Chancellors, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, renowned politicians, and other distinguished professionals.

“COPSUN wishes to appeal to the President of ASUU to realise that the membership of ASUU is voluntary. Therefore, it is not his ill-informed approach and denigration of state universities that will lead to fashioning out creative approaches to avoid existential extinction that will solve the myriad of problems confronting the University system in Nigeria.

The pro-chancellors added, “The very unfortunate ill-digested view of the President of ASUU had vindicated the position of this Committee on the following issues;

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“The negative professionalization of offices of the Unions that operate in our Universities and the unserious belief among many members of the Unions that the Unions are superior to the Councils of the Universities that are their employers.

“The need for immediate democratisation of the membership of Unions in the universities to the extent of the freedom of any individual to belong to a Union with options of not belonging.

“Devolution of powers on the issues of labour, wages, and salaries with freedom of the employers to negotiate with their employees, as practised in other parts of the world, where we borrowed the University system.

“State Universities cannot be forced or coerced to implement agreements reached between the Federal Government and her workers in the Universities to which they are not parties.

“It is time to respect the federal nature of our government in all matters and not selectively, especially on the issues of salaries and wages.”