The Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Oyebamji Oyegoke on Friday, issued a warning that the union may be forced to embark on a fresh strike action, if the federal government fails to honour the 2020 Memorandum of Agreement, entered with the union.
In a chat with newsmen on Friday in Ilorin, on the sideline of the celebration of Human Rights Day, the Zonal Coordinator said, “Selective treatment of issues in dispute instead of a comprehensive approach, will no longer be acceptable to our members.”
“We shall no longer take the issue of welfare of members for granted. Any treatment of the MoA of 2020 that precludes its full implementation and rejection of IPPIS, will be incomplete.”
Professor Oyegoke lamented that, “Some of the union members have not been paid salaries since December 2020 and they are still working. It shows commitment on our part.”
He said the demands of the union are realistic and holistic in the common interest of the country’s educational and developmental pursuits.
“If nothing is done, we will be left with no choice than to withdraw our services until reason prevails,” he warned.
Professor Oyebamji said the federal government has demonstrated its intention to embarrass the collective resolve of the union to save university education from total collapse, and ASUU cannot succumb to this insensitive disposition.
He commended interventions of notable Nigerians on the matter but argued that, “It is about actions and not deliberations,” adding that, “These are no new demands.”
Meanwhile, ASUU is demanding full implementation of the 2020 MoA agreement comprising funding for revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, withheld salaries and promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, inconsistencies in IPPIS payment and University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS.