The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has stated that it is eager to end the seven-month-old strike.
On Thursday in Abuja, at a National Town Hall Meeting on Tertiary Education with the theme “The Locked Gates of our Citadels -A National Emergency,” ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke made this announcement.
According to NAN, Osodeke claimed that this could only be accomplished if agreements with the Federal Government were made in writing.
He said that if the court forces the lecturers to return to school, they won’t force them to teach with open minds, saying that the students would definitely be at the receiving end.
Osodeke commended the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors for stepping in to resolve the issues
He, therefore, called on parents and students to appeal to the government to do the needful so that the strike would come to an end once and for all, rather than attacking the union.
Meanwhile, Mrs Vivian Bello , Convener, Save Public Education Campaign, an NGO, pleaded with both parties to resolve the problems saying that the students are not the only people feeling the negative impact, but also the union.
Bello said that it behooves on both sides to bring the crisis to a perpetual end for the sake of the students as well as the development of education in the country.
” We are going to play our traditional role which is the role of monitor.
” We are going to keep very strong searchlight on the two actors- both in the government and on ASUU, in order to see that this issue of back and forth is quickly brought to an end the strike will be called-off,” she said.
Some of the contentious issues that led to the strike by the unions include the non-release of revitalisation fund, non-payment of earned allowance (or earned academic allowance), renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement, and the release of white paper for visitation panel.
Others are: the non-payment of minimum wage arrears and the inconsistency occasioned by the use of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).