After eight grilling months, the national executive council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has agreed to suspend the strike.
ASUU had said the strike would be ‘suspended’ but not ‘called off’ pending resolutions of its demands.
This development is sequel to last Weeks’s ruling of the court of appeal which asked the union to obey a national industrial court of Nigeria. But ASUU insisted that two of its conditions should be met before it called off the strike.
According to ASUU’s President, Emmanuel Osodeke “a concrete agreement with the federal government and an order by the national industrial court to the effect will suffice for now”
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Speaking on the issue on Friday’s edition of journalists’ Hangout, Veteran Journalist, Babajide Kolade-Otitoju said “by labour laws, when a strike is suspended, it can be resumed without officially communicating to your employer because before going on strike you must communicate with your employer.
“This is what ASUU does. Over the years, the Union has come to see the federal government as not being reliable, and not fulfilling its obligation.
“For these reasons, ASUU has learned to suspend its strike so that It can resume at any time.
Mr Otitoju noted that government needs to be able to earn the trust of workers so that there will be greater industrial harmony.
He added “The situation in which you go into an agreement, you get them to suspend their strike, only for those issues to remain unattended to, is the main reason we have all kinds of problems.
“Nobody wants to look at himself and feel that he’s been cheated or he’s been deceived.
“ASUU is depending on the Speaker of the House of Reps, Gbajabiamila who has said he will extract some commitments from the president.
Babajide also stated that one of the reasons the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, went on strike was a lack of funds for doctor training.
He applauded the speaker on the progress made in the case of ASUU and the NMA.
“This strike has been suspended in the hope that those things that the FG promised ASUU that it would do, they will go ahead and do it.
Speaking on the subject, Mayor Akinpelu, a senior journalist, stated that the problem with universities is due to a lack of government leadership.
“Government is a continuous process, but if you negotiate with people and make promises to do certain things, it puts pressure on you to follow through.
“When you can do what you say you will do, trust is built; when you can’t, it becomes a problem.
There have also been numerous debates on social media, with many claiming that ASUU is suspending its strike because elections are approaching.
In response to the issue, Babajide stated that the ASUU chairman’s statement that parents should not vote for the APC-led government because of the way their children have been forced to sit at home and so far was what prompted the minister to say that it has been politicised.
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