ASUU Suspends Strike After Nine Months

The suspension takes effect from 12:01 a.m. Thursday, making it the longest strike in the history of the country since 1999.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday said it has “conditionally” suspended the strike action it embarked on in March over the backlog of unmet agreements between its members and the federal government.

The suspension takes effect from 12:01 a.m. Thursday, the statement released by the union read, making it the longest strike in the history of the country since 1999.

The union said it has suspended the nine-month-old strike while it monitors the compliance level of the federal government to the concessions the latter has made.

Speaking at a briefing at the union’s secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, the union’s president, Biodun Ogunyemi, said the decision was reached after its national executive council met on Tuesday.

Mr Ogunyemi noted that the suspension of the strike was sequel to the understanding the union had with the federal government, to which ASUU NEC agreed upon.

He said the agreements reached are to be met within January and March next year. Failure to meet the agreements would trigger fresh industrial actions, he said.

Asked how the latest suspension differs from previous ones, Mr Ogunyemi explained that the deadline for the implementation of the agreement with the government has been pegged at February.

“The time frame is a bit elastic. There are some items that are supposed to be addressed in January. There are some others that will drag till March or thereabouts,” he said.

“This time around, we have agreed to review the status of the implementation by February. That is our mechanism for monitoring. This was not there in some of our previous agreements.”