My people, it is no longer news that the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) will be embarking on a one week warning strike starting from 12.01 a.m 16th November, 2016 to 12.00 (midnight) on Tuesday 22nd November, 2016. This decision was reached on the 12th November 2016.

According to the umbrella body of university Lecturers, the one week strike is to compel Government to address the following issues:

1) Funding and Revitalization of public universities based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of November 2013

2) Non- release of subvention to state Universities by their visitors

3) Registration of NUPEMCO

4) Payment of Earned Allowance ( EAA)

5) Shortfalls in salaries leading to payment of fractions of staff salaries

6) Non-payment of salaries of staff in the staff Primary schools

7) Exemption of universities from the treasury single Account (TSA) Policy

Renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement.

According to ASUU, the strike is total and comprehensive, No teaching, No examination and attendance of statutory meetings of any kind(senate, Council, College/Faculty/Departmental Boards).

According to the Strike Bulletin which was circulated to all members of ASUU and got to us at lawrenzi.com, it urged members to only take instructions from their chairpersons and when in doubt, members should consult their Chairpersons and attend congress meetings regularly for updates on the strike action.

The strike Bulletins also urges all comrades to remain steadfast and resolute.

Matters Arising

My fellow Nigerian students, another strike is here again, though this is just for one week, so it might not disrupt your academic calendar that much, but you must begin to prepare for the bigger one which might come up next year, remember how the last strike started on the 1st of July 2013, oh yes! That six months strike, thank God you remember. You must start preparing yourself for the worst, not because of the warning strike, but because of the “big catch”.

I am sincerely disappointed with the position Of ASUU on some of the issues raised in the Bulletin, for example the TSA, the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement, Non-payment of salaries of staff in the staff Primary schools, Registration of NUPEMCO and the Funding and Revitalization of public universities based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of November 2013.

How long will ASUU keep on renegotiating the 2009 agreement? I sincerely pity for Nigerian students who have to go through this face, I must clearly state that the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement no longer make sense to me again.

Now ASUU wants to register a pension company of their own, for the Academics and operated by the academics, to take care of their retirement benefit, this is where NUMPEMCO comes in. Sometimes I am tempted to ask, what does ASUU really stand for? Are they really interested in the affairs of their members? How does the Registration of NUPEMCO affect what happens in the Lecture theaters? I know very well that there are pension companies in Nigeria managing the retirement benefit of our Lecturers,if they are not satisfied with their services, they can register they complains through appropriate channel, instead of wanting to have their own. I see greed in ASUU.

One cannot take away the fact that the Federal government is not doing enough in the educational sector, and it gives me great concerns on where we are really going as a nation if our educational sector is neglected. Looking at the reason for the strike, at least (item1-4) I can arguably say that ASUU is putting the Cart before the horse, seriously their priorities are misplaced. Let me not say more!
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