By Gabriel Dike, Lagos
The National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has for now ruled out embarking on strike.
The highest decision-making organ of ASUU, NEC endorsed the continuation of protest rallies by the various branches to inform the public about the plights of university lecturers.
The decisions were taken by ASUU at the NEC meeting held at the University of Calabar (UNICAL). Some of the NEC members told Daily Sun that contrary to Nigerians’ expectations, the union did not consider embarking on strike to press home its demands.
According to the NEC members, the meeting resolved to continue with the protest rallies at zonal levels. One of the chairmen said NEC also resolved to constantly engage stakeholders on the poor treatment being meted to the union by the federal government on its outstanding demands and non-payment of arrears of salaries owed members.
Ahead of the crucial NEC meeting, the federal government paid university lecturers distorted salaries for November.
The NEC meeting came one month after ASUU members protested against the half salaries paid by the government in October and the non-implementation of their demands.
ASUU called off its eight months strike on October 14 based on a court order by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).
At the end of October, the federal government paid ASUU members half their salary and vowed not to pay the outstanding seven months’ salaries because of the application of the “no work, no pay” policy.
