The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal government of failing to fulfill the promises made to it.
As a result, the union has threatened to embark on a strike by January.
Reports quoted the ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, to have said this in an interview on Monday.
He said there were many promises that the government had failed to fulfill, adding that the union had exercised patience for three years, with no results.
“The government has made many promises, but all we have seen is that they are playing games. They owe lecturers arrears between January and December 2023,” he noted.
He, therefore, declared that “lecturers are exhausted”.
“The government, earlier this year, said they have approved a N300 billion NEEDS assessment fund for universities in the country. Up till now, despite approving the money in the budget, there has been no actual release,” he said.
He noted that another issue concerns the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which lecturers complained about.
IPPIS is a centralized database system for Nigerian Public Service. It was introduced by the Federal government of Nigeria with the support of the World Bank as part of a Public Service Reform initiative.
“We complained about IPPIS and the government said that they have solved the issue with GIFMIS, we then saw that it’s same thing they are doing, so there is not much difference between IPPIS and GIFMIS,” he said.
He noted that they have been having discussions with a government committee which noted that it would reach out to higher authorities to check if certain demands would be agreed upon but for two weeks “ASUU has not heard anything from the government”.
The union noted that it may declare a strike action in January.
“We will meet in January and may declare strike action,” he said.
Asked when the industrial action will be declared in January, the ASUU leader said: “That will be communicated.”
Earlier in September, ASUU threatened to go on strike and gave the government a 14-day ultimatum to meet its demands.
The union noted that it was in addition to the initial 21 days, beginning from September 23, 2024, during which all the lingering issues must have been concretely addressed to the satisfaction of the membership of the union.
“The union should not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony that arises from the government’s failure to seize the new opportunity offered by ASUU to nip the looming crisis in the bud,” ASUU said at the time.
The union, however, did not eventually declare an industrial action.