The Academic Staff Union of Universities decided late Monday (yesterday) at its National Executive Committee, NEC, not to call another strike to protest the Federal Government's payment of members' half salaries.
In its dispute over the 2009 agreement with the government, the union reportedly decided to wait for House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to step in.
ASUU is not going on strike, but...
Meanwhile, no member of the body, including the President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who attended the meeting at the University of Abuja campus, where ASUU's headquarters are located, has spoken about the outcome.
For and against a strike
However, according to a source, members have decided not to pursue the strike option to persuade the government to address the competing issues.
According to reports, some members pushed for a total and comprehensive strike across all public universities in the country. Still, most members opposed the action, claiming it was no longer fashionable in the current climate.
Those opposed to the strike argued that it would be wrong to resume the strike, forcing students who had already returned to their various schools following an earlier suspension of the action to return home.
The statement issued by the House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, stating that the government would not pay members their full salaries as expected, was said to have further deflated the argument of those who had pushed for a strike as a last resort.
Some members argued that because the strike was called off at the Speaker's request following his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, it would be inappropriate to resume action while he (the Speaker) was still pushing for the federal government to retrace its decision on the no-work, no-pay policy."
Embarking on another round of strike was not considered an option in resolving the current issues with the federal government at the meeting," a source from the meeting said, refusing to speak further.
When asked what happened at the meeting, he replied, “You would hear the rest through the appropriate channel.”As a group, we have people who speak on our behalf. You'll hear from them about what happened," he promised.
Prof. Osodeke, President of ASUU, did not answer calls to his mobile phone. When filing this report, a follow-up message to the phone line had not received a response.
