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The South-east stakeholders meeting convened by the governors to find a way out of the strike by lecturers in the zone turned sour when ASUU leadership and members walked out in protest.
Chairman of the South-east Governors’ Forum, Mr. Peter Obi, had during accreditation for the meeting at the Nike Lake Resort Enugu announced that only Igbo speaking lecturers would be allowed in.

The lecturers, who viewed the announcement as a ploy to stop the national leadership of ASUU from participating, protested the decision and were consequently manhandled by security agents.

The coordinator of the ASUU strike in the zone, Dr. Emmanuel Osedeke, expressed shock that the governor could introduce ethnicity into the university system; “its unfortunate and we decided to walk out.” He alleged that Mr. Obi was out to prolong the strike because he wasn’t going to be part of the 2011 elections, “and his children are not here.” Osedeke declared that the strike would continue until the owners of the universities tell the governors that they were not a local institution; “because the governors did not own the schools.”

He lamented the assault unleashed on ASUU members, pointing out that they no longer feel safe; “the last time we came to Enugu, the governor unleashed dogs on us; so if there will be another meeting, it will be at a neutral ground. One of the lecturers, who was molested by the security agents, Mr. Ogbonna Onuoha, from Abia State University, narrated how a policeman held him on the head and tried to push him down; “when I recovered, his fingers were pointed towards my eyes as he threatened to blind me.

“And as we tried to go, they attempted to kidnap us; they held us hostage and even turned our students against us.”
Efforts to bring the lecturers back to the meeting failed and at the end, a committee was set up to look into the face-off and see the best way to resolve the problem. The committee, which was jointly headed by the Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma and former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, announced that negotiation had been taken over by them. Bishop Chukwuma, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, said it was agreed that a neutral body outside the governors and lecturers should handle the negotiation and come up with a conclusion.

He urged ASUU to appreciate the intervention and re-open the universities with the hope that agreement would be reached. Among the stakeholders that attended were the five governors of the zone, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman South-east Tradtional Rulers, Eze Cletus Illomanya, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Chief Hope Uzodimma, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, Senator Ayogu Eze, among others.

Hopes that the 109-day-old strike by public university lecturers would be called off on Tuesday have been dashed, as the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities asked Nigerians to wait till Friday for its final decision on the issue.

The National Executive Council of ASUU had met on Tuesday night to deliberate on the new offer presented to the union’s negotiating team by the Federal Government, after the intervention of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

Many had hoped that the outcome of the meeting would result in the suspension of the strike.

But a top source at the meeting confided in one of our correspondents that the NEC decided that branch chairmen of the union should go back to their respective chapters to brief lecturers about the offer and the position to take thereafter.

“The strike is not yet over. You have to wait till Friday when the national president, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, will brief the press on our position on the current action. For now, the NEC’s directive is that we should go back to our various universities to brief our members, after which we will get back to the NEC and on Friday, this week, a press conference will hold, where our position will be made known to the public,” the source revealed.



Asked to comment on the new offer by the government, the source told our correspondent to wait till Friday. The source only said that the government had shifted it’s earlier position on earlier refusal to sign the agreement on behalf of the state governments.

The ASUU president also expressed a similar view in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Tuesday, saying that the issues involved would have to be discussed at the local chapter level before a final decision would be reached.

He said, “The decision is that state chapters of the union have to make their input in line with the democratic principles of the union.”

Asked to comment on the areas of contention, Awuzie said he could not do that since our correspondent was not a member of the NEC.

He said, “If I tell you the areas of discussion, then you have become a member of the NEC. Are you a member of NEC?”

But he said that no date had been fixed for the reconvening of the NEC meeting.

“We have not taken any specific date yet, but they have to make their input soonest. That means we have to get their input as soon as possible,” he said.

But the top source at the NEC meeting, which held behind closed doors on Tuesday, said that Friday had been picked as the day that the final decision would be made known to the public.

Another source, who attended the NEC meeting, said that members expressed divergent opinions on the proposal by the Federal Government that individual universities should decide the remuneration of lecturers.

Some had insisted that the state universities should be adequately catered for in the negotiations.

The decision by ASUU to call the NEC meeting was taken last Friday after several meetings with the Edo State governor and the Federal Government team.

Though the Chairman, ASUU, University of Lagos Chapter, Dr. Ayo Olowe, confirmed that the union would brief the media on Friday, he refused to comment on the details of Tuesday’s meeting.

“Just wait, exercise some patience. By Friday you will know the union’s position,” he said.

Meanwhile, priests in the Anglican Dioceses of Akure and Ife East have called on the Federal Government to put an end to the strike.

They lamented that the delay in resolving the crisis which had kept students at home for the past four months, had caused more harm than good.

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.

On the ongoing ASUU STRIKE,the National President of the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) prof Ukachukwu Awuzie yesterday reacted to the reported 40 percent increase in salary offered by the federal government,saying the union was yet to receive a formal notice to that effect....when told that the leader of the ASUU/FG Renegotiation committee,Mr Gamaliel Onosade had announced on friday that the federal government was prepared to offer a 40 percent wage increase as against the 109 percent being demanded by the lecturers,the ASUU president said in a telephone chat that,Onosade is not supposed to announce anything.He is not the minister of Education,labour,or finance.He is just the leader of the negotiating team.He added that it is not right to say that ASUU demanded for 109 percent because ASUU did not demand any percentage.

All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) has said the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are quite realizable, affordable and not utopian as being claimed by some persons in government.
The party, in a press statement, stated that to any progressive minded person, the Federal Government can afford to address the problems saying, however, that those presiding over the affairs of the country would prefer to discard with their epicurean disposition than resolve the crisis.
The ANPP statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Emma Eneukwu noted with pains that what made the current ASUU/Federal Government squabble more paradoxical is the fact that the trio of President Yar'Adua, his Vice, Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, were members of ASUU, stressing that Dr. Egwu in particular was at a time a chapter president of ASUU at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).
The ANPP noted that in spite of this understanding that ought to bespite of this understanding that ought to be an advantage to ASUU members, the nonchalant attitude of the three top government officials towards the decay in the educational sector and the struggle of the former comrades to remedy same, is a testimony to Nigerians that nothing good can come from the PDP.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday embarked on indefinite strike following the refusal of the Federal Government to sign the agreement reached by the union and the government negotiating team.

ASUU in a press conference addressed by its President, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie in Akure on Monday said the decision of the union to embark on the strike became imperative in view of FG antics toward signing the agreement
Prof Awuzie stated that both ASUU and government negotiating team led by Gamaliel Onosode reached an agreement over two years ago for a minimum point in which Nigerian universities system would make a significant progress among others saying the FG instead of signing the pact, has been using unnecessary delay tactics, a development which he said to led the two weeks warning strike.

The ASUU president said that since December 2008 when the negotiation between FGN-ASUU teams was completed, ASUU has exercised patience for over two years to avoid any strike that might paralyze the academic activities. “But the government did not treat ASUU’s patience with sincerity”

He said that federal government had dribbled ASUU officials on about three occasions that the agreement would be signed only to discover that the Federal Government was not serious about the issue.
Prof Awuzie also said that ASUU embarked on the strike because the situation remained unchanged since the end of the two weeks warning strike on May 31 2009.

“Instead of the Federal Government to sign the agreement, we keep on hearing actions that are entirely phoney to the collective bargaining process, such as government setting up a technical committee on agreement without reference to negotiating team while a ministerial committee was set up with terms of reference that would entirely nullify the negotiated agreement,” he said.

“Our members have come to the conclusion that over two and half years of patience is enough, they feel betrayed, duped and do not want to suffer any more psychological or moral trauma. NEC considered carefully the views of the branches and resolved that ASUU’s major concern in engaging in such a long, painstaking negotiation – the revitalization of the university system, will not be compromised,” he said.

ASUU said that its action to go on strike was propelled by the FG’s nonchalant attitude and deceit.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is the government that has forced us to embark upon this strike. We have done all our best to avoid it. And it can be as short as possible if the government respects and signs the agreement reached with ASUU by the government’s own negotiating team.”

Academic activities in Nigerian universities were yesterday grounded as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began a two-week warning strike to protest the failure of the Federal Government to sign and implement the agreement reached between it and ASUU.
ASUU president,Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie,who made this public yesterday while addressing newsmen in Yola,the Adamawa state capital,at the end of the Union's three-day national executive council meeting,said the Federal Government had pushed ASUU into an unavoidable strike situation,having persevered for two long years of "painstaking and scientific negotiation and six months wait for the government to sign and implement the agreement.
The negotiating teams, he continued, agreed that if Nigeria is to get where it ought to be "a minimum of 26 per cent of the annual budget of the state and Federal government ought to be allocated to education"stressing that with the level of funding,we can halt the growing inability of the children of the underprivileged to get an education.