ASUU Strike Called Off! Students To Resume On Nov. 18

A source close to top guns in the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) has
revealed that lecturers will ditch their four month old strike this weekend so
students could resume on November 18 (next Monday).
The source said there was no way the union could reject the new offer of N220bn a
year tabled by President Goodluck Jonathan during a marathon meeting with ASUU
last week Tuesday.
ASUU had come out of that meeting to tell Nigerians it needed time to deliberate on
the new deal and reach a consensus among it members before talking to the press.
A top official of the union, has however said the government could not be trusted
even on the new offer, and that ASUU’s members were divided over the
government’s offer. He, however raised a beam of hope by saying the majority still
decided to give the government the benefit of the doubt.
As ASUU executives meet this Wednesday, if the fate of the strike is down to a vote
among the striking lecturers, as suggested by ASUU chairman, Nasir Fagge, the
four month old impasse may surely end this week.
ASUU went on strike July 1 over the non-implementation of a 2009 agreement it
had with the government with a key component of the memorandum of
understanding the allocation of 26% of Nigeria’s total budget to education.
Although the government is planning to allocate just 9% of the 2014 budget to
education, ASUU now seems set to end the strike after government offers that
would surely boost lecturers’ take home pay and improve varsity infrastructure.