Kano ASUU threatens strike over unmet agreement

The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) Kano Zone has warned the federal government that unless the late Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs’s document on the Federal government and ASUU 2009 agreement were renegotiated, the union would embark on strike to press home their demands on agreements

These ASUU members are Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Bayero University Kano(BUK), Kaduna State University Kaduna, Kano State University of Science and Technology Wudil, Federal University Dutse, Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Sule Lamido University and Kafin Hausa Jigawa state

Making this known at a press conference held at the BUK old campus on Wednesday, the ASUU zonal coordinator, Comrade Abdulkadir Muhammad, said the federal government was insensitive to the problems bedevilling education in the country, which is why they were not ready to address their demands.

The ASUU-Kano zone appeals to the federal and state governments to address all outstanding issues in the agreements and memoranda they signed with our union to avert industrial disharmony.

According to him, “In Nigeria and public universities, members of ASUU are increasingly running out of patience due to the government’s continued refusal to honour the terms of these agreements.”

He added that this press conference is intended to call the attention of Nigerians to the government’s insensitivity to the plight of university lecturers and the general conditions of teaching and learning in the ivory towers.”

Comrade Muhammad further stated that the ASUU uses this opportunity to call on all patriots in the media, the civil society labour movement, and the student group to support its altruistic struggle to reposition Nigerian public universities.

Finally, the zone wants to send a message to Mr President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the only way to end the strike is for the government to faithfully implement the contents of the agreement it freely signed with the union through collective bargaining

He noted that the union has been without a signed renegotiated agreement with the FGN since 2009, when a dollar was exchanged for N146.7 as against the current exchange rate of a dollar to about N1,900, where the salary eroded by more than 90 per cent. ”

He added that there are many contentious issues with regard to ASUU’s agreement. levels, the union has been making consistent efforts to get the lingering issues addressed, but the government has not been forthcoming in finding a lasting solution to these problems.

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