What you need to know about the ongoing ASUU strike

The ASUU strike in 2013 continues, but the latest update is a key piece of news—the federal government has extended the deadline to December 9. It was previously pegged for December 4.

What’s the deadline and why hasn’t the strike been called off?

The deadline: the government originally said that whichever lecturers were still striking on December 4 would be fired. President Goodluck Jonathan said that the ultimatum was given by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and the Minister of Education Nyesom Wike.

He added, though, that the strike is not a trade dispute any more, but a subversive action that undermines the government.

The strike hasn’t been called off yet because union leadership said it wouldn’t end the strike unless the government met three conditions, at least one of which the government doesn’t want to meet.

The conditions are:

1. Commitment from the President that any review or reconsideration or renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement will not substantially affect the pact which is the cause of the ongoing strike;

2. Immediate payment of all outstanding salary arrears and allowances of varsity teachers without victimization; and

3. A written commitment from the President that the Federal Government will commit N225billion annually to the funding of universities for the next four years.

Wike said that the conditions reach beyond the agreement the government and union leadership came to after the marathon meeting between the two sides last month. He called the conditions “outrageous,” sparking an angry response from union leadership. The deadline sparked another angry response.

The strike started in July and has crippled universities across the nation. The union says the strike started because the government wasn’t fulfilling conditions laid out in a 2009 agreement between the two sides.

Now, instead of the December 4 ultimatum, the deadline is Monday, December 9.

Wike, the minister of education, said that the extension was a mark of respect for Festus Iyayi, a former head of the ASUU who died recently on his way to a union meeting. Iyayi is getting buried on Monday, reported the makunbanews

“The decision to shift the date of the compulsory resumption of federal universities for academic activities has been taken as a result of the respect we have for the former ASUU president,” Wike said in a statement through a spokesman.

Wike added that the deadline isn’t a form of show-down with the union, but to act in the interests of the Nigerian public.

It was reported as far back as November 5—before the meeting between President Jonathan and union leadership—that the president would re-open the universities even if an agreement wasn’t reached between the two sides.

At the same time, classes have reportedly resumed at at least five universities.

Additionally, Dr. Doyin Okupe, senior special assistant to the president, said that N200 billion has been paid to the union, meant for the renewal of infrastructure at the public universities.

Money has been a primary demand from the union during the negotiations.