ASUU/NEC Meeting Postponed Till SATURDAY -

Already, chairmen of local chapters of ASUU
are converging on Kano, preparatory to the
meeting, from where a positive resolution is
being expected. Chairman of one of the
federal universities in the South-South,
who did not want his name mentioned,
said the strike “may be suspended on
Saturday.”
“Many of the chapters are disposed to
ending this strike, which has cost us all a
full semester. “As I speak with you, we
(chairmen) are on our way to Kano for NEC
meeting tomorrow (today).” Asked if the
strike would be suspended, he said: “I think
so, judging by reports from the Monday
congresses we held simultaneously. We
may suspend the strike on Saturday or
Sunday.”
He, however, admonished government to
ensure that it honoured its promise so as
not to return the university system to this
“sorry past”. This, of course, formed the
basis for the Monday congresses and
today’s “decider” NEC meeting.
The Kano meeting is to deliberate on
whether to call off the strike as the NEC
receives reports of the congresses that held
“simultaneously” in all the universities
across the country. Local chapters of ASUU
had held their congresses on Monday to
vote on the suspension or otherwise.
The said agreement, which necessitated the
subsisting July 1 action, required that the
Federal Government will, within a period of
five years, release more than N1trn, to
bridge the noticeable infrastructural deficits
in the nation’s ivory towers. Also, the
Federal Government would have released
N92bn, for what the union christened,
“earned allowance.”
However, ASUU seems to have a moral
burden now as the Federal Government
said it had released over N30bn as part of
the contentious earned allowance. Last
week’s meeting of the Fagge-led ASUU with
President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa,
prompted positive steps by ASUU towards
ending the strike.
At the meeting, President Jonathan was said
to have pledged government’s readiness to
release N220bn in next year’s budget and
in subsequent appropriations.
Meanwhile, the University of Jos, UNIJOS,
chapter of the union explained its support
for the continuation of the ongoing strike.
After considering the outcome of the
meeting which the union’s national body
had with President Jonathan, members of
the branch had last Monday voted in
favour of the continuation of the four
month- old strike.
The UNIJOS branch of ASUU said the
meeting with the President achieved
nothing, a position which had also been
condemned by some stakeholders The
Branch Chairman, Dr. David Jangkham, said
yesterday in Jos, the Plateau State capital,
that his members were compelled to take
the stand because of the government’s
insensitivity to their plight.
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