Oyogist.com has learned that the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, failure of which has led to the ongoing strike by the university lecturers.
At the plenary on Tuesday, the House specifically urged the Ministry of Labour, Employment & Productivity and ASUU to “adhere to the clauses and provisions of the previous Memorandum of Understanding and the Memorandum of Action in the interest of Nigerian students and education sector in Nigeria and call off the warning strike.”
The House also mandated its Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity and Committee on Tertiary Education and Services to interface with the Ministries of Labour, Employment and Productivity; Education; Civil Society Organisations; Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and ASUU to “address the outstanding issues that are precipitating the current warning strike by members of ASUU.”
These resolutions followed the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member of the House, Dozie Nwankwo, titled ‘Urgent Need to Address the Frequent Strike Actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.’
Nwankwo recalled the meetings by the relevant stakeholders, which led to the call-off of the ASUU strike that lasted nine months – from March to December 2020.
The lawmaker decried the “individual and corporate pains the strike action inflicted on Nigerian students, parents and the education sector, to the extent that it disrupted the academic calendar and impacted negatively on the teaching staff, their families and the depreciating standards of Nigeria’s public universities.”
He noted the “benefits and advantages” of the demands of ASUU on the overall interests of Nigeria’s public institutions and the well-being of the personnel, which includes funding for the revitalisation of public universities and signing and implementation of the renegotiated 2009 FGN- ASUU Agreement, amongst others.
