AGAIN?! UNIVERSITY TEACHERS STRIKE LOOMS IN NIGERIA

UNIVERSITY LECTURERS IN NIGERIA THREATENS INDUSTRIAL ACTION

■ The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed its readiness to embark on another round of industrial action due to the failure of the government to implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the union in December 2020.

The lecturers had called off an earlier industrial action in December 2020, which began in March.

ASUU is accusing the government of owing earned academic allowances and also for selective payments of salaries, saying professors in some institutions received N80,000 in June and senior lecturers got N25,000.

The University teachers had given the government till the end of August to implement the said agreement, following which a meeting of its National Executive Council would be convened to decide the next line of action.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said he is still awaiting official reports from the Ministry of Education which penned the agreement with the academic union before any action can be taken by the government.

The minister accused the union of always issuing strike threats to cause panic among the populace.

Also, the National President, Nigeria Civil Service Union, Chief Lawrence Amaechi, has threatened that Nigerian workers may embark on sympathy strike with the lecturers if the government, through its attitude, compels them to embark on another industrial action.●