Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday announced that it has decided to suspend a prolonged strike which they began eight months ago demanding better funding for universities, more facilities and improved pay system among other issues, reported The BBC.
The academic union embarked on strike action on Monday, February 14, 2022 to protest the non-implementation of the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding reached with it by Nigeria’s Federal Government.
The decision to suspend the ongoing strike was announced after an all-night meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU in Abuja.
Several rounds of talks with Nigeria’s government leaders had failed to resolve the dispute. The Federal Government had set up a negotiation team to look into the Union’s demand.
As per sources, the suspension of the strike was based on last week’s ruling of the Court of Appeal which asked the union to obey an order of the National Industrial Court ruling before filing its appeal.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Hamma Barka dismissed an application for stay of execution on the NIC ruling, which the union had sought. It gave a seven days’ deadline to the lecturers to file their appeal, during which they must have resumed work.
The conditions for the suspension have not been announced yet. The union has now asked its members to resume work on Monday next week.
Earlier this week the union gave the clearest indication to end the strike after a meeting with key leaders of Nigeria’s parliament.
The eight-month long strike was one of the longest strikes by university lecturers in Nigeria. It disrupted academic activities in the country’s public universities, affecting around two million students. The suspension of the strike comes as a huge relief to the students, who have been waiting for long.
