FG, ASUU talks deadlocked as strike nears 7th month

Soremekun Seyifunmi Samson
Following the last deadlocked meeting between the federal government and the ASUU committee, some branches of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in state-owned universities have vowed to remain on strike.

This is due to the failure of the Federal Government to successfully negotiate with the national body of the union.

Recall that the strike action commenced on the 14th of February, 2022 due to a 2009 agreement having the federal government not fulfilling her part.

The strike followed by several meetings between both parties has yet remained unsolved. Chairpersons of ASUU in the affected state universities in separate interviews confirmed that “hopes about calling off the strike should better be done away with”.

Although some Universities like Lagos State University, Kaduna State University, Kwara State University, and Osun State University, among others, called off their strike in their various institutions, the majority of state-owned universities remain on strike.

These state universities include Ekiti State University; Gombe State University; Olabisi Onabanjo University and Tai-Solarin University of Education, Ogun State; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Oyo state; Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State; Bauchi State University; Benue State University, Ibrahim Babaginda University, Niger; Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano; Imo State University; Nasarawa State University; Abia State University; Kano State University of Technology; Kebbi State University; and Sokoto State University among others.

Also, all federal-owned universities; the University of Lagos, University of Ilorin, University of
Ibadan, amongst others in the nation, is still on strike.

The main content of the 2009 Agreement is that the national body had requested from the Federal Government the release of revitalization funds to universities; earned allowances; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) for the payment of salaries and allowances of lecturers; release of the white paper on the visitation panels to universities among others.