From Benjamin Babine, Abuja
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has on Wednesday suspended its nine-month-old strike which started since March 2020.
ASUU National President Prof Biodun Ogunyemi made the announcement during a briefing of the Union in Abuja. He explained that the decision was reached on Tuesday after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
Prof Ogunyemi said the agreements which were reached in good faith with the government and the Union on Tuesday imposed some obligations on both sides. He said: ‘On our part we have undertaken to go back to the classrooms, laboratories, etc, to do our best for our students and our country.
‘We are going back to rekindle the motivation and aspirations in our members to strive to encourage our students to excel, all in the expectations that Governments both Federal and State will sincerely fulfil their own part of the bargain.
‘We are returning to classes with the firm hope that parents will take prime interests in their children’s conditions of living and learning, better funding, better laboratories, and free development for their children, in order to get an all-round education that will enable them to compete with the rest of the world. We appeal to parents to work with us for the revitalisation of public universities.’
The Union embarked on an indefinite strike on March 23 over several issues, some of which were related to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as well as the non-implementation of agreements and resolutions the government reached with the Union in 2009.
Following the disagreement, the ASUU proceeded to develop its own payment system named the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as an alternative to the IPPIS. However, the government were reluctant to accept the platform and also attend to some of their other demands kept university students out of school for nine months.