The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has decided to shelve its proposed nationwide strike in order to go for more consultations and to give government opportunity to address all outstanding issues arising from the December 20 Memorandum of Action(MoA).
This was confirmed in a statement made available by the Union President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke during an emergency meeting held in Abuja.
Osodeke confirmed that the efforts of many Nigerians who are patriotic about the educational development of the county and also determined to ensure a gentle man solution of the lingering disputes were taken into account.
It could be recalled that ASUU had last week issued a fresh three-week ultimatum to the Federal Government in which it threatened to embark on strike if its demands are not met.
The Union had however accused the Federal Government of insincerity, blackmail and propaganda.
ASUU further said it will resist attempts to blackmail the union and derail its patriotic struggle for a productive University system “by official propaganda founded on tokenism and crumb-sharing”
The decision which was made at the emergency National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU held at the National Secretariat at the University of Abuja over the weekend, saw the union reach a conclusion to review the situation on another date.
According to the union President, ” NEC took full account of student union bodies, leading media, traditional rulers, civil society organizations and other interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 20, MoA.”
The President further said the union particularly took pledges made to the by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) who promised to make further consultations with a view of finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis.