Seven public universities in the South-West and South-South geopolitical zones have vowed to go on strike amid ongoing disagreements with the federal and state governments.
At a news conference in Benin City on Thursday, the educational institutions made the warning on behalf of the Benin Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU.
The universities are University of Benin, Benin City (UNIBEN), Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma in Edo State, Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA), Akungba-Akoko, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa in Ondo State, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE), Effurun, and University of Delta, Agbor in Delta.
Professor Monday Igbafen, Zonal Coordinator of ASUU’s Benin Zone, addressed the news conference headlined ‘On the unsolved problems between Federal, State governments and ASUU: Government is urging ASUU to go on strike’.
Igbafen stated that the union’s decision to go on strike was motivated by the federal and state government’s refusal to address the union’s outstanding demands following the long-running countrywide strike from February to October 2022.
He said that the government’s refusal to meet the union’s requests, as well as its lack of sincerity, had harmed the living and working circumstances of academic staff in public institutions throughout the country and zone.
He listed some of the unsolved concerns, including the blocked renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, funding for the rejuvenation of public institutions based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2021, 2023, and the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) of 2017.
Others include the unlawful dissolution of Governing Councils in Federal and State Universities, the withholding of pay at Federal and State Universities, and the unpaid salaries of sabbatical personnel as a result of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
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cc: Daily Post Ng
