FUW Urges ASUU to Embark on Total, Comprehensive Strike

By  Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

The Federal University Wukari (FUW) branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has enjoined the national body of the union to embark on a total and comprehensive strike if the federal government fails to honour agreements reached with it by February 13, 2022.

In a resolution unanimously passed during a congress meeting held on Wednesday in Wukari, members of the branch resolved to support the national body and abide by its directives whenever the strike is declared.

In a press release issued at the end of the congress, which was signed by the Chairman and Secretary, Joseph Ikwebe and Comrade S.O. Ameh, titled ‘Federal Government Unwittingly Calling for Strike’, the branch took a swipe at the federal government for failing to honour agreements.

Berating the federal government, the branch noted that it is more than a year after ASUU patriotically suspended the nine-month strike occasioned by the failure of the federal government to implement the 2009 agreements and numbers of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) and Memoranda of Action (MoA) entered into with the union.

The union however acknowledged the recent interventions of notable stakeholders including the Nigerian Inter-religious Council (NIREC) towards having the federal government to do the needful and avert the resumption of the suspended strike.

The ASUU- FUW further noted that the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) despite undergoing countless numbers of test and evaluation by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the federal government is yet to deploy it to replace IPPIS.

Wondering why the government is foot dragging on the deployment of UTAS which is a home grown solution, members of the branch described IPPIS as evil which is being used to amputate and decapitate the members salaries.

Similarly, the union called on the federal government to release the balance of the of the Earned Academic Allowances to its members without delay, stressing that hyper inflation in the country had made the allowances to lose their economic value.

Other demands of the union include the funding for the revitalization of public universities and the enactment of an enabling law to prevent proliferation of state universities.

In line with the directives of the national body, the ASUU-FUW stated that it had declared Wednesday, February 9, 2022 lecture free day to educate the general public particularly students, parents and other stakeholders on the need to avoid another strike by pressing on the federal government to implement all agreements it willingly reached with ASUU in order to avoid another disruption of the nation’s university academic calendar.