By Damola Emmanuel
Students in public universities and their parents across the country got the much-sought reprieve, early Friday, as the Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU, resolved to “conditionally” suspend the eight-month-old strike it started on February 14, 2022.
Delivering the good news, ASUU said it would make details of the resolution as they pertain to its demands and timelines known at a press conference later today.
The National Industrial Court had, on September 21, 2022, ordered university lectures under the aegis of ASUU to return to classrooms pending the resolution of extant matters.
In delivering the judgement, the court had explained that it invoked Section 18 of the Trade Dispute Act and the interest of the Nigerian students to grant the request of the Federal Government for an order of injunction against the lecturers after negotiations had broken down.
But as the gladiators stuck to their guns, the House of Representatives intervened, with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and his team holding marathon meetings with ASUU executives, led by its President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke.
The decision to suspend the strike, a direct result of intense negotiations with the Federal Government and the House of Representatives, was taken at the end of ASUU National Executive Council meeting which was held at the ASUU secretariat in Abuja.
President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke had, following discussions with government, disclosed that the strike would be called off “in a few days”.
“In a few days, we will put this strike to an end,” Osodeke had announced. “Let all of us working together and the members of the House of Representatives working together, put a beautiful end to this thing we have started so that every Nigerian will be proud that we have the universities we can be proud of.
“We also extend our appreciation to the President for intervening in the ASUU strike. And I want to appeal that in future we should not allow strike to linger. Strike should not go beyond two days; if the way the National Assembly has intervened.
“If we had done that long ago, or those in charge of Labour and Education had done exactly this, we would not have stayed more than two or weeks on the strike.
“Strike is all over the world, UK, U.S. all over, but they don’t allow it to last. So, once again, thank you very much and we hope that working together, in the next few days, we can put an end to this particular imbroglio in the Nigerian educational system.”
