The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its ongoing two-week warning strike following an overnight meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) that ended in the early hours of Wednesday.
ASUU National President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, announced the suspension at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, saying the union took the decision after reviewing progress made in discussions with the Federal Government.
“We’ve had useful engagements with representatives of the government to consider their response to the draft renegotiation of the 2009 agreement,” Piwuna said.
“However, we are definitely not where we were prior to the commencement of the strike.”
He explained that the NEC meeting, which lasted through the night and concluded around 4:00 a.m., assessed the government’s commitments to ASUU’s long-standing demands before deciding to suspend the industrial action.
ASUU had on Monday, October 13, declared a total and comprehensive two-week warning strike to protest what it described as the government’s delay in addressing critical issues affecting university lecturers and the public university system.
The union’s demands include the conclusion and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement, the release of withheld three and a half months’ salaries, and sustainable funding for public universities.
Other demands are the revitalisation of public universities, an end to the alleged victimisation of lecturers at the Lagos State University (LASU), Prince Abubakar Audu University, and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), as well as the payment of outstanding 25–35% salary arrears, promotion arrears spanning over four years, and the release of withheld third-party deductions such as cooperative contributions and union dues.
Piwuna stressed that while the suspension of the strike was a goodwill gesture, ASUU would not hesitate to resume industrial action if the government fails to fulfil its commitments within the agreed timeline.
