By Gabriel Dike
As results of the various congresses of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) trickles in, there are strong indications that the branches have accepted the Federal Government new offers.
But it is not yet uhuru as the congresses have given the Federal Government conditions to be met before the eight-month-old industrial action will be suspended by the union.
Daily Sun gathered that results from the various branch congresses held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday endorsed the new government offers on the table and gave conditions to end the strike.
After the last negotiation with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and other government officials, the leadership of ASUU mandated the various branches to hold congress on whether to accept or reject government new offers.
At the last meeting, the Federal Government offered ASUU an increase in some of their demands. It expected the union to call off the strike but ASUU insisted it will consult branches, which have the powers to accept or reject the offers.
The results of the branch congresses will be collated by the zonal coordinators and forwarded to ASUU secretariat ahead of Friday meeting with government officials.
Results from various ASUU branches indicate that members accepted the new government offers but they insisted that outstanding salaries from July to October be paid with November salary before the strike will be suspended.
One of the universities in the South West whose congress took place on Monday, November 23rd, resolved that ASUU should accept the revitalization fund for public universities while on Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), it urged the leadership to consider the amount offered but it must for members alone.
On UTAS and governing council, the branches backed the position of the national leadership of the union and advised government to expedite action on the integrity test on UTAS while it also resolved that withheld salaries be paid with November salary.
Another university in South East zone accepted the N30 billion revitalization fund, stating that it will help state universities. It however insisted that July to November salaries must be paid before the suspension of strike while the EAA must be paid in full before ending the industrial action.
A branch in the North backed the acceptance of EAA and revitalization fund proposed by government. It however demanded that July to November salaries must be paid before the suspension of strike.
It added: “EAA must be paid in full before the suspension of strike. Salary renegotiation must start and end in three weeks before suspension of strike. This will enable the National Assembly to include it in the 2021 budget. EAA must be mainstreamed into monthly salaries before suspension. We are not in hurry to resume now and start another strike next year.”
