ASUU strike update: Lecturers to meet
with lawmakers, ministers on Monday
Nicholas Ibekwe - 7 hours ago
NATIONAL, NEWS
ASUU embarked on a strike action last
Tuesday.
Striking university lecturers will on
Monday hold a crucial meeting with
federal lawmakers and ministers, their
leader has said.
The National President of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
Professor Nasir Fagge, told PREMIUM
TIMES the union would meet with the
members of the joint National Assembly
education committee on Monday.
Monday’s scheduled meeting follows the
walk out by the university lecturers from
an earlier one on Tuesday. The Tuesday
meeting was attended by members of
the Senate and House of Representatives
Committee on Education, as well as the
ministers of education and labour.
The lecturers said they were kept waiting
for over two hours by the lawmakers and
they had to leave because they had
another appointment.
“The meeting was slated for 1:00 p.m.
When we arrived, we met two people
there – a member of the house
committee on education and Executive
Secretary for National Board of Technical
Education. We waited for 30 minutes and
were told to go and wait at the office of
(Senator) Chukwumerije. We left the
complex around 3:30 p.m. because we
were going to attend another meeting
slated for 3 p.m.,” Mr. Fagge told
PREMIUM TIMES.
“They (NASS members) called yesterday
(Wednesday) to say the meeting has
been rescheduled for Monday.”
The don, however, refused to say if the
outcome of the meeting would affect the
strike in any way.
“I don’t act on speculations. I like
crossing my bridge when I get there. We
cannot say. If we do, it means we’re not
attending with an open mind. Our union
is a union of intellectuals; we engage in
dialogue with an open mind. We would
decide on the next course of action after
the meeting.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Fagge said the union
does not owe the legislator any apologies
for Tuesday’s failed negotiation. The
lawmakers had described the lecturers as
“snubs” for allegedly walking out on
them.
“It is arrogant of them to snub us
knowing that this meeting is in the
interest of our children. I suggest that a
strong-worded letter be written to the
union to tell them that we are not happy
with their action,” said House of
Representative member, Jerry Alagbaoso
(PDP-Imo).
However, Mr. Fagge said they never met
the legislators so it was wrong for them
to say that ASUU representatives walked
out on them.
“How can you walk out from a meeting if
you’re not in the same place with the
other party?” he asked. “Unless my
understanding of English is faulty, you can
walk out on somebody when you’re at the
same place at the same time. They were
having their meeting in the committee’s
room; we were at Uche Chukwumerijie’s
(senate committee on education
chairman) office. They kept us waiting for
two hours thirty minutes. How could we
have walked out on them? So, if we
didn’t walk out on them there is no basis
of demanding for an apology,” he said.
ASUU declared an indefinite strike last
Tuesday based on the refusal of
government to honour the terms of a
2009 agreement and a 2012
memorandum of understanding it signed
with the lecturers for improved welfare
and increased funding for universities.