Strike: ASUU NEC in crucial meeting

The National Executive Council, NEC, of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, will Sunday night/ Monday morning decide on whether the union would continue its over six months strike that has left most public universities in the country shut down.

However, it was learnt that baring any last minute change of mind, the union would continue the industrial action.
The development may leave it as the only union in the university system that is still on strike.

Others, namely the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions, NASU and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, have suspended their actions for a few months to allow the Federal Government look into their demands.

While the comment by the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, describing some state universities that have opted out of the strike as quacks, has generated ripples and there is the possibility of some of the branches in the state universities opting out of the strike.

Already, the Kwara State University, Kaduna State University, and Ekiti State University have lampooned Osodeke for his comments and noted that most of the issues at stake are peculiar to federal universities.

Subsequently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has debunked report making the rounds that it named universities owned by State governments quack.

Speaking with Journalists on Saturday, the ASUU president debunked the report saying he was misquoted by the media.

According to Osodeke, he was referring to only three universities owned by State governments which are currently not on strike.

Describing the report as fake, Osodeke lamented unprofessionalism in reportage, alleging that the media aimed at creating confusion in the system.

He said, “There is nothing like that. It is a lie. I have told myself that I will not talk to the press again because they always misrepresent things.

“I have found out that Nigerian press is specialized in manipulating interviews, reporting what someone did not say just to create confusion in the system. They won’t report things the way it is”.