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Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday declared that unless the Federal Government retraces its steps and agrees to the principles of collective bargaining, its one-month-old strike would continue unabated.

This was even as the Academic Staff Union said the scheduled meeting of today at the instance of the House of Representatives Committee on Education would yield no fruitful result. National President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, told journalists in Abuja on Wednesday that while the leadership of the union prepared for dialogue as part of its avowed commitment to the development of education sector, it will, however, not succumb to blackmail and threats.

While the deadlock continues, government is making concerted efforts towards getting the Chairman of the Renegotiation panel, Deacon Gamaliel Onosode, who is believed to be out of the country, to attend the meeting since he is in better positioned to analyze all the contending issues which he had handled for over two years now.
Prof. Awuzie contrary to some reports, ASUU never failed to honour any meeting at the instance of the Minister of Labour, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, adding that even the same minister has apologized for the mix up thus requested for a new date for the meeting.

According to Awuzie: “The minister promised to call back but failed to do so and we were not aware of the reason for the call. While we were at the meeting with lawmakers at National Assembly, the minister called but the person who answered the call told him that I was in the meeting and could not pick the call. However, we have spoken to him and he apologized for the mix up, stating that his staff made a mistake and failed to formally invite us to the meet.”

He said the minister also promised to speak to the chairman, House Committee on Education to see if he can be part of the meeting taking place today (Thursday) to allow for a collective deliberation of the issues.


Prof. Awuzie stressed that the University Autonomy Act which government is holding unto has nothing to do with funding of tertiary institutions thus vowed that the union would sustain the strike, saying that compromise will further hurt the university system if after the current strike, ASUU fail to get a firm commitment from government as well ensure that the document was signed.

According to the ASUU president, “the only ground for calling off the strike is for government to ensure strict adherence to the principle of collective bargaining which means whatever the principals have should be tabled before both parties for discussion. The whole documents and decisions agreed upon, since the negotiation started two-years ago, are signed by the representative of Federal Government and ASUU. Then we can talk about calling off the strike”

The lingering and indefinite strike action embarked upon by ASUU to press home their demands for the Federal Government to sign the agreement believed to have been entered into, entered its second month today.