Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, has stated that the National Executive Council of the union would decide next line of action for the union in view of the logjam between it and the FG.
Indicating that no conclusion had been reached on whether its members should go on strike or not over the unmet demands, the president of ASUU said that consultations were, however, ongoing.
Osodeke was quoted as saying that the declaration of Monday, February 7, as a lecture free day was to sensitise members and also show the displeasure of the union on the way FG handed the matter.
He said, “We declared Monday as a lecture free day for members to sensitise our members and let the government know that we are not happy with the manner the issue is being handled. After all this, we will collate views and opinions of our members from across the country.
“Based on what our members say, the National Executive Council of our great union will meet and decide whether to resume our suspended strike or not. The leaders of the union don’t act unilaterally; we act based on what our members ask us to do.”
On the FG’s excuse on inability to meet all the demands of the union based on paucity of funds, Osodeke said that it boiled down to prioritizing issues.
According to him, not all the demands have to be met spending money.
He explained that some were policy matters, citing the demand for the replacement of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System with the University Transparency and Accountability System.
The zonal leaderships of ASUU are, in the meantime, expected to collate views from their branches on the issue this week for onward transmission to the national.
The Lagos zone of the union has fixed its meeting for Tuesday at the University of Lagos, Akoka.
