Nigerian university students on Monday expressed delight
over reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, would be
calling off their prolonged industrial action soon.
The striking university lecturers had yesterday expressed
optimism that the intervention by the House of Representatives on its ongoing
face-off with the Federal Government would yield desired results.
The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke when
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, briefed the
union in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said, “For the
first time, we have seen light at the end of the tunnel.”
ASUU shut down public universities in the country on
February 14 to demand full implementation of agreements it had entered into
with the Federal Government a few years ago.
Recall that the FG had agreed to inject a total
of N1.3 trillion into public universities, both state and federal, in six
tranches, starting in 2013 after the union decried the deplorable state of the
institutions.
In 2013, the government was, according to the agreement,
said to have released N200 billion and promised to release N220 billion each
year for another five years.
But after releasing the first tranche, the government
stopped releasing the funds. In 2017, it, however, released N20 billion. In
2020, it promised to release N25 billion.
ASUU rejected the offer, insisting on N110 billion, which is
50 percent of the N220 billion that it demanded, but the government declined,
citing a paucity of funds.
Recall that the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu
Adamu, had on August 22, 2022, claimed that the government had resolved most of
the demands of ASUU.
Among the demands addressed, according to the Minister, was
the release of N50 billion for the payment of earned allowances for
universities’ academic and non-academic and non-academic staff.
The strike, however, lingered until the Federal Government
dragged the union to the National Industrial Court, asking the court to order
the lecturer back to class.
The National Industrial Court and the Court of Appeal had
recently ruled that the lecturers must return to the classroom as negotiations
continue.
Gbajabiamila, who waded into the crisis recently due to the
plight of Nigerian students, said on Monday during the briefing that the
8-month-old strike would end “in matter of days.”
It was gathered that President Buhari would meet with ASUU
stakeholders on Tuesday, after which the strike may be called off.
Some students who spoke on Monday expressed joy that the
prolonged strike is about to end.
Mary Adanu of the University of Abuja said she would have
graduated from the University if not for the strike, saying she has spent more
than five years for just a four-year course.
“I am happy that we will finally go back to school, at least
after resumption, I will have the hope of graduating soon. Once you are a
student in a public university, you automatically become a victim. Four years
course is getting to six years”, she lamented.
Similarly, Victoria James lamented the time wasted at home
for the past eight months, stating that the industrial action could jeopardize
her destiny.
“If the strike is called off this week, I will be so happy
because I need to go back to school in order to finish on time. I don’t have
eternity to fulfill destiny,” she said.
Another student from the Benue State University, BSU,
Onyeche Mathew, said, “Finally, God defeated the devil that said I should not
graduate. I am already preparing for lectures because I know this can not be
report as usual. We have heard from different sources, including ASUU, that the
strike will end this week. I am so happy right now.
“My lecturer called me to confirm this. I have seen hell in the last few months. Lots of things went down but thank God for life. We will bounce back”.
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