The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared a two-week warning strike over dissatisfaction with the federal government’s response to its demands.
Chris Piwuna, ASUU president, addressed the press on Sunday at the union’s headquarters at the University of Abuja.
Piwuna said the strike would begin on October 13 and would be observed across all branches of the union nationwide.
He said the strike became necessary after several failed attempts to get the government to address long-standing issues affecting public universities.
On October 8, Tunji Alausa, the minister of education, had appealed to the union to shelve its planned strike, assuring that negotiations with aggrieved unions in the tertiary education sector were at a final stage.
Piwuna, however, said the plea came too late, insisting that the strike would go on as planned.
He said the strike can only be averted if the federal government takes concrete action towards the demands of the lecturers.
“The problem with this government is that they are slow in responding to our demands. When we were about to embark on strike action, we went for a meeting in Sokoto and they gave us three weeks, which we accepted,” he said.
“During those three weeks, we never heard a word from them until the three weeks had elapsed.”
