It has been revealed why the federal government reversed its order to reopen public universities amid the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
Recall that the federal government had ordered Vice-Chancellors to re-open schools.
The federal government had directed the Vice-Chancellors of universities “to ensure that the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) resume and commence lectures immediately.”
However, it later issued another directive withdrawing its earlier circular.
It was gathered that the opinion leaders and other stakeholders interested in resolving the face-off between the ASUU and the government mounted pressure on government requesting that the circular, earlier sent to mandate the reopening of the universities, be withdrawn.
A senior official in the Ministry of Education, who didn’t want his name mentioned, disclosed that “the circular was withdrawn to allow for more negotiation between government and the ASUU following the ongoing invention by the Speaker of the House of Representatives”.
DAILY GIST reported that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February 14th over failure of the federal government to meet its demands.
The union is demanding from FG, the funding of the Revitalisation of Public Universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.
Others are the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement and the inconsistency in Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.