ASUU threatens strike over dissolution of varsity Governing Councils

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to strike nationwide over the non-constitution of governing councils for universities months after they were dissolved.

In June, the National Universities Commission (NUC) dissolved the governing councils of all federal universities after a directive from President Bola Tinubu.

But months after the move, ASUU insists that the dissolution is “illegal”, claiming that the move has “paved the way for all manner of illegalities in the Nigerian University System”.

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“ASUU shall do all within its powers to ensure that the dignity of the academia is fully restored in line with practices obtainable in forward-looking climes,” ASUU’s president Emmanuel Osodeke said in a Tuesday press conference.

“So, Nigerians should hold the Federal and State Governments responsible if the matter of Governing Councils is allowed to snowball into an avoidable industrial crisis.”

He added:” The illegal dissolution of Governing Councils by the Tinubu Government and many state governments has paved way for all manner of illegalities in the Nigerian university system

“University administrations now place advertisements for the appointment of Vice-Chancellor without authorization from the appropriate quarters – the Governing Councils.

“Outgoing vice-chancellors, working in cahoots with the federal and state ministries of education, are illegally running the universities on daily basis.

“They routinely usurp the powers of Governing Councils to recruit and discipline staff as well as manage university finances in manners bereft of transparency and accountability, ” he added.

The union further lamented the unending grip of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, saying that the platform is a fraudulent one that inflicted unprecedented hardship on Nigerian academics and corruptly distorted university operations concerning payroll management.

“ASUU also lamented the socio-economic crises in which our nation, Nigeria, is currently engulfed are multifarious and multidimensional, no thanks to the massive injection of neo-liberal policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“The NEC therefore, condemned in strong terms the seeming refusal of federal and state governments to decisively address all outstanding issues with the union.

“NEC shall reconvene after two weeks from the date of the NEC meeting to review the situation and take decisive action to address the issues,” he added.