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University Lecturers, ASUU Won’t Go On Strike If I Am In Charge – Atiku Says Despite Union’s Action Six Times Under Him As Vice-President

University Lecturers, ASUU Won’t Go On Strike If I Am In Charge – Atiku Says Despite Union’s Action Six Times Under Him As Vice-President
August 13, 2022

ASUU had embarked on strike on February 14, 2022, over the government’s failure to honour agreements signed by both parties.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar says the government’s inability to resolve the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike would never happen under his administration.

Atiku disclosed this, while speaking on Friday at the commemoration of the 2022 International Youth Day in Abuja, the Cable reports.

ASUU had embarked on strike on February 14, 2022, over the government’s failure to honour agreements signed by both parties.

The lecturers’ demands include; the revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of university lecturers’ salaries, among others.

“Therefore, I take very strong exception to the strike by ASUU. The inability of the government to resolve that crisis will never happen under a PDP government or administration that I will oversee,” Atiku said.

“I have been investing in education for the past 30 years. I believe the PDP provides the best platform for you to actualise your individual, collective aspirations.

“Of course, I have made many public pronouncements of my intention to have a youth-inclusive government. This is because it is our responsibility to provide you the opportunities to acquire the trainings and also the experience to take over from us your parents. So, I want to congratulate you and I hope this year will usher in an administration of PDP.”

Meanwhile, during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 1999 and 2007 when Abubakar served as vice-president, ASUU went on strike at least, six times.

In 1999, ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike due to the failure of negotiations between the union and the government over the working conditions in Nigerian universities.

In 2001, the union again embarked on another strike over the reinstatement of 49 lecturers sacked at the University of Ilorin.

In December 2002, the union embarked on a two-week strike because of the failure of the Obasanjo administration to implement an agreement it had with the union during the previous strike.

In 2003, public universities in Nigeria were shut down for six months as ASUU embarked on another strike due to the non-implementation of previous agreements, which covered poor university funding and disparity in salary and retirement age.

In the year 2005, Nigerian students witnessed another disruption when the university lecturers stayed off campuses for two weeks.

In April 2006, a three-day warning strike which eventually lasted for one week crippled academic activities in public universities.

The union again embarked on another strike on March 26, 2007; a strike which lasted for three months.

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Education