The Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU), may have primed itself for industrial action, unless the federal government settled issues of concern the union raised within 21 days.
The national president, Emmanuel Osodeke stated this while briefing the press on the outcome of its National Executive Council meeting held in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
This followed the union’s issuance of 21 days ultimatum to the government to address all outstanding issues it reached in agreements with the government over the years.
“At the end of the ultimatum, the council will reconvene to take appropriate decision(s) as deemed necessary,” noted the staff of Michael Okpara University Umudike.
Osodeke said the council condemned in strong terms, the seeming refusal by both federal and state governments to decisively address all outstanding issues with the union.
He further explained that the council, which sat between Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th rejected the slow pace of intervention by the Minister of Education in resolving the issues.
The issues, he lamented, are continued poor funding of universities and education in general, renegotiation of FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
Others are proliferation of universities, management crises and victimisation in the universities and arrears of earned academic allowances and non-release of owed salaries, and the state of the nation.
He said reports presented at the meeting “indicated that the government does not appreciate the enormity of the problems and the dire need to arrest the ugly trend with utmost urgency”.
“Our union is worried that the government appears fixated on its self-serving approach of legalistic and arm-twisting,” the unionist continued.