Lecturers in public universities on Monday began an indefinite strike over Federal Government’s refusal to implement agreement reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The ASUU National President, Dr. Isa Fagge, said in Lagos on Monday that the decision to embark on the action was reached during the National Executive Council meeting of the union held at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State on Monday.
He spoke with newsmen via the telephone after the Chairman, University of Lagos chapter of ASUU, Dr. Karo Ogbinaka, had told journalists that the strike would be total.
According to Fagge, the strike will be “comprehensive, total and indefinite.’’
“The strike starts today (Monday) and it is going to last for as long as the Federal Government wants it,” he said.
He explained that the union embarked on the strike because the government had reneged on the agreement it reached with ASUU before the lecturers suspended a similar action in February 2012.
“The Federal Government has refused to implement some of the issues contained in a 2009 agreement it had with us,” he said.
Fagge added that the government had also reneged on the Memorandum of Understanding it entered into with the union in December 2011.
“Before now, there has been this issue of the implementation of the key issues contained in the 2009 agreement we entered into with the Federal Government.
“We have had several meetings and deliberations to let government understand why these issues must be resolved but it is like the more we meet and deliberate, the messier the issue gets.
“One of the issues that needed to be addressed was basically that of the academic earned allowance.
“This earned allowance, and other issues, had dragged on until government then agreed to write an MOU with the union.
“But as we speak, there has been nothing to show that government was committed to an MOU it willingly wrote to better the university sector.
“It is in this regard that we are embarking on an indefinite strike,” he said
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