ABU joins ASUU strike

The congress of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria chapter on Tuesday resolved to join the two-week strike declared by the national body of the union. Leading the congress, the chairman of the ABU-ASUU, Professor Rabi’u Nasiru, told members that the declaration of the strike was meant to draw […]

The congress of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria chapter on Tuesday resolved to join the two-week strike declared by the national body of the union.

Leading the congress, the chairman of the ABU-ASUU, Professor Rabi’u Nasiru, told members that the declaration of the strike was meant to draw the attention of government on its failure to honour many agreements reached with the union.

He said the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement is yet to be implemented, saying that the subsequent Memorandum of Action and Memorandum of Understanding that the union signed with the Federal Government in 2013, 2017 and 2019 are also yet to be implemented.

While the members of the congress unanimously resolved to join the two-week warning strike, they accused some prominent officials of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration of being “insincere and insensitive” to the plight of students and the education sector.

The congress agreed that the strike will be total as there would be no lectures for all categories of students.

Professor Rabi’u added: “There would be no supervision for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. There would be no meetings of all sorts, except ASUU meetings. The strike monitoring team would be reactivated to ensure maximum compliance.”

Daily Trust correspondent observed that some members of the congress preferred what they called “total and indefinite” strike instead of the warning strike, arguing that ASUU “must make sacrifice” to force the government to address the challenges that are crippling public universities and the education sector in general.

It was also observed that many lecturers in ABU had stopped lectures since Monday after the declaration by the national body.

Students were also seen in clusters discussing the development, while others were seen leaving the university campus with their luggage.

Daily Trust learnt that all lecturers and other staff of ABU are yet to receive their February 2020 salary, a development that is fuelling anger and anxiety in the university, according to some of the staff interviewed.