12/01/2019
ASUU strike: Lecturers reject
offers, make fresh demands
from FG
EDUCATION
Published on January 12, 2019
By Ifreke Inyang
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has made
fresh demands from the Federal Government, dashing the
hopes of many students that academic activities will
resume soon.
When ASUU’s leadership met with Chris Ngige, the Minister
of Labour and Employment on Tuesday, he said the labour
dispute with the university teachers was on the verge of
being resolved.
According to Ngige, the office of the Accountant-General of
the Federation and the Ministry of Finance presented
evidence that N15.4billion had been released to public
universities.
On earned academic allowances, he said President
Muhammadu Buhari approved N20billion to offset arrears
of the 2009 to 2012 verified earnings by university teachers.
However, speaking with Premium Times on Saturday, ASUU
president Biodun Ogunyemi, said upon reviewing the offers
made by the government, members of the union across
various campuses and zones rejected it.
“Our members have rejected tokenism with respect to
outstanding revitalization fund of N1.1 trillion. They are
insisting that government should release at least one
tranche of N220 billion spread over four quarters of 2019.
“On earned academic allowances, our members said
government’s proposed amount out of the verified balance
should not be less than the total amount released last time,
while evidence of mainstreaming the allowances into the
2019 budget should be shown. Also, timeline should be
attached to payment of the balance of the arrears.
“The revitalization fund and earned academic allowances
are the two critical areas on which our members feel
strongly about. They expect necessary adjustments on the
part of government before they can reconsider their
decision on the ongoing strike action,” Ogunyemi said.