The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja branch, has told Nigerians that the ongoing strike will continue because the Federal Government is yet to call the union for discussion.
Dr Kassim Umaru, the ASUU’s branch chairman, revealed this in an interview with newsmen at the end of the union’s Congress on Tuesday at the University’s Mini Campus in Gwagwalada.
Umaru also challenged the Federal Government to cite any of the actions taken to end the strike.
According to him, Congress deliberated on the strike issues and vehemently pronounced and rejected the Federal Government’s offer, adding that the National Executive Council (NEC) would meet at the end of the four-week deadline to make a decision.
Umaru said, “As far as we’re concerned, the federal government hasn’t done anything to our various demands.
“The federal government should tell the Nigerian public what they’ve done. The two committees that were set up, the Nimi Briggs committee, and the Jubrin committee, were set up and these committees had their recommendations.”
He added, “Our salaries are always negotiated. It’s not something you feel you can pay us. It’s something that you have to sit down to talk about and agree that you can pay us.
“As far as we are concerned, our job is different from any other civil servants; it’s the job you are going back to do. You’re not paying for an hour. You’re paying for the job we have done, so it’s their responsibility to pay us and if they said they’re not paying us, it is a joke taken too far.
“As it’s, they have not called our union and Nigerians should know that we’ve not been called, no invitation to our union and all that we know is that the strike continues.”
Recall that ASUU, on February 14, shut down public universities over the inability of the Federal Government to implement previous agreements both parties entered into.
The lecturers’ agitations include funding for the revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution, promotion arrears and others.
