ASUU reveals why strike may continue for years, makes fresh demand from Buhari govt

The Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, has highlighted reasons its protracted strike may continue for years.

Professor Olu Olufayo, the Coordinator of ASUU in Akure Zone, said the strike may linger for years if the federal government refuses to honour its agreement with the union.

Olufayo disclosed this during a press conference at ASUU Secretariat in Obafemi Awolowo University Campus on Friday.

He stressed that ASUU would remain on strike until the Nigerian government meets its demands with respect to implementing the 2009 agreement.


Olufayo also called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on the education sector in Nigeria.

According to Olufayo: “It is unfortunate that the government in the country does not care about the quality of education available for the children of ordinary Nigerians since their children schooled abroad, hence, their refusal to honour the various agreements reached with ASUU for almost eleven years.


“We have also resolved to remain on strike for as long as possible to ensure that the Federal government commit to the agreement and take concrete steps towards ensuring quality public university education in the country.


“We have told the FG to declare a state of emergency in the education sector, shut the schools for two or even five years within which it can fix the problem in the sector and ensure quality education in the country.”



Leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are beginning to contradict themselves over the reasons they embarked on their on-going strike which had entered its eighth month.

While some of the leaders in the south-south region said on Wednesday that the Federal Government’s insistence on enrolling varsity teachers in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Scheme (IPPS), was the cause of the unending strike, a leader in Yola said on Friday that IPPIS was not at the crux of the strike.

Prof. Augustine Ndaghu, coordinator in Yola said on Friday that the dispute between the union and the Federal Government was based on a Memorandum of Action (MOA) which the government had failed to execute since Feb. 7, 2019.

“For the records, the IPPIS is not the reason why we are currently on strike.

“We are on strike because of the Federal Government’s unwillingness to honour the 2019 Memorandum of Action address five fundamental issues in contention.

“In our understanding, IPPIS is a distraction plan by the government to retrogress the wheel of progress of the smooth resolution of the contentious issues,’’ Ndaghu said.

He said two of the five major issues in dispute are the provision of revitalisation funds for public universities and the constitution of visitation panels to federal universities.

The other three, he said, were renegotiation of a 2008 FG-ASUU agreement, the payment of arrears of Earned Academic Allowances, and the proliferation of state universities and their affairs.


The coordinator accused some top Federal Government officials of deliberately trying to deny the children of common citizens of access to tertiary education.

“From their body language, we now understand that funding public universities is a waste of funds,’’ Ndaghu charged.