Gabriel Dike
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has directed it various branches to hold congresses and decide the fate of the eight-month-old strike based on the new offer by the Federal Government.
Daily Sun learnt that over the weekend, ASUU asked each branch to hold congress between today and Wednesday, November 25 and that the outcome would be taken to the next meeting on Friday with representatives of government.
Last Friday, the Federal Government at the resumed negotiations with lecturers offered N65 billion to settle the Earned Academic Allowance. Government also agreed to pay additional N15 billion as revitalisation fund in an effort to end the ongoing strike. The amount was in addition to N20 billion that was being proposed.
It was learnt that if the new offer was accepted by the branches, it would shape outcome of the strike.
Zonal coordinators of ASUU Ibadan and Lagos zones, Prof. Olusiji Sowande and Prof. Ade Adejumo as well as the University of Lagos branch chairman, Dr. Dele Ashiru, confirmed the directive by the leadership of the union to the branches to hold congress and take decision on the new government offer.
Profs Adejumo and Sowande said after the congresses, their views on the new offer would be collated and taken to ASUU secretariat ahead of the Friday meeting with Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.
Dr. Ashiru disclosed that members at the congress would make inputs into the new offer but observed that the offers would be without timelines for implementation, adding that the congress would demand specific date for payment of the outstanding salaries, release of check-off dues, payment for earned allowance and release of the revitalisation fund to the universities.
Daily Sun gathered that for the Akure zone of ASUU, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife would hold its congress today after the zonal meeting while the Federal University, Akure, would hold its congress on tomorrow and Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti would meet on Wednesday.
ASUU commenced its strike on March 23 to press home the implementation of their demands, among them, the rejection of the use of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to pay university lecturers’ salaries and allowances, as against the ASUU-developed University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which it proposed renegotiation of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement and revitalisation fund for public universities.
