There are indications that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may have concluded arrangements to extend their warning strike by two months.
Daily Trust reports a senior member of the National Executive Council of ASUU as saying that the union is concluding arrangements to ground universities for at least 8 more weeks to press home its demand from the Federal Government.
”I can tell you that deliberations are still ongoing as far as our warning strike is concerned, but it is most likely that we extend the strike by 8 weeks,” the official, who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent on phone.
But when contacted, the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, described the report on the extension as ”mere speculations”, adding that the NEC members are still deliberating on the next line of action.
Daily Trust reports Prof. Osodeke as saying that ”We have not addressed any press on this issue. It is just mere speculation. Deliberation is still ongoing as I am talking to you,”
Meanwhile, at about 6:50 am on Monday, an unverified Twitter handle of ASUU also announced that the union had extended the warning strike by eight weeks.
The tweet read, “BREAKING NEWS: ASUU extends the strike action by 8 weeks. Stay tuned for more details. #ASUU #ASUUstrike.”
REPORTERS AT LARGE had earlier reported that the union declared a one-month warning strike on February 14, the deadline which elapsed today.
Nigerians are currently anxious to know the next line of action from both the university lecturers and the Federal government.
A wide range of issues for which ASUU members are demanding resolutions for include: non-implementation of the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached with it; salary shortfall caused by the introduction of IPPIS; revitalisation of universities across the country, among others.
The union had on Sunday slammed the Government over its recent proclamation that University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) has failed the integrity test.
