The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday, May 26, 2022, has said that the future of the country will be in jeopardy if the union fails to fight for a better university system.
ASUU also said that in the last two decades, no government of Nigeria has willingly released money for the university system without the union going on strikes.
The Chairman of University of Ibadan chapter of the Union, Professor Ayo Akinwole, stated this while featuring on a programme of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS).
Saying that Nigerians should not be deceived by the antics of the federal government over the ongoing payment of minimum wage arrears, Akinwole pointed out that “the N34 billion is being paid to lecturers and senior staff in universities, polytechnic and colleges of education and not ASUU.”
Professor Akinwole stated that apart from the fact that federal government had yet to provide concrete responses to the reasons why it went on strike, those paid the consequential adjustment of their minimum wage were legally entitled to have been paid since April 2019.
The ASUU chairman, who said it was sad for federal government to want to deceive Nigerians as if it had been responding to issues leading to the ongoing strike, stated that the strike was still fully ongoing and comprehensive.
He said Nigerians could now appreciate the sacrifices of university lecturers who are just being paid their arrears three years after they were supposed to have been paid, adding: “The government owes us many debts.”
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Akinwole stated that the union had been on strike to get better conditions of service and face lift in infrastructure because it didn’t want her place of employment to crumble the way former railway corporation went, and how public primary and secondary schools had been destroyed by the ruling class.
“We don’t like strikes but we would have explored all peaceful means and lobbied several stakeholders to intervene. We are on strike because all peaceful means failed and struggle has to start to fight for the system and our livelihoods. If we are only after our pockets alone, the strike may not last, but ASUU is more interested in sustainable working environment and conditions of learning for Nigerian students.”
