ASUU Threatens To Embark On Another Strike

In less than one year that the Federal and State University resumed its protracted strike, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to embark on another industrial action due to no remittance of salary by the Federal Government.

The ASUU Chairman from the University of Jos, Dr Lazarus Maigoro gave the hint in a press statement issued and made available to newsmen in Jos, Plateau State.
According to him, the union is planning to embark on another strike over the deliberate refusal of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris to pay the salaries and remittance of check-off dues of over 1,000 staff for 13 months.
Maigoro also accused the AGF of fanning the embers of discord between the Federal Government and the Union, which may lead to another round of strike action that may spell doom for the education sector.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to wade into the issue in order to forestall the potential shutdown of the tertiary education sector.
The statement partly read,

“Despite the directive given by Mr president to pay the salaries of all lecturers, the AGF has refused to pay their salaries ranging from four to 13 months respectively.
“Many of our members in the University of Jos and across the country have not been paid salaries from February 2020 to date.
“The AGF has completely violated the terms of the agreement signed between our union and the Federal Government.
“Ahmed Idris, from all intent and purposes, is bent on withholding the salaries of over one-thousand members of ASUU spread across Nigeria with more than a hundred of such lecturers being members of our Branch in the University of Jos.
“More worrisome is the fact that while Idris is refusing to pay these salaries, his staff in the OAGF are busy calling the affected lecturers and insisting they’ve to register with IPPIS before they are paid; some are even asked to forfeit a part of their salaries in order to be paid. So it’s very clear that this is a deliberate act on the part of the AGF and his staff.”