The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted that there is no going back on it’s strike action until the Federal Government implements the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it reached with the union in 2013 and 2017.
Chairman of ASUU at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Austen Sado made the assertion while reacting to the directive that universities in Rivers State should reopen for academic activities on Monday, October 5th in a Live radio programme.
“This strike was declared as at 23rd of March and as at today, no meeting has taken place. Government has not invited our union for any discussion and so nothing has changed. All the issues that necessitated the strike has remained the same,” he said.
Dr. Austen said;
“You will recall that the strike preceded the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. One would have expected that the period of the Covid-19 would have given ample opportunity for the government to meet with the union and have some sort of dicussion and negotiation and move even to the point of implementing some of those things that have become sour points in the relationship between the academic staff union and the government of Nigeria. Unfortunately nothing has happened and nothing has changed.”
The ASUU Uniport Chapter Chairman maintained that government should be held responsible for continued interruption of academic activities at the universities.
He said;
“The government should be held responsible for that because because if you have six months between the time the strike was declared and today and you have not bothered to invite this union, it means education is not important. If it is not important, why should the union be held responsible for the irresponsibility of government?
He further stressed;
“I don’t see how our members could still be tolerant to this level of neglect, decadent infrastructure and decay in the system. If the government considered education as important, the period of six months would have been enough. There is nothing we can do. The strike is forced on us.”