ASUU Has Declares Monday 7 February As Lecture Free Day (SEE WHY)

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared Monday, 7 February a lecture-free day to sensitise the public on its case with the Buhari government and the planned strike.

President of the union, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, urged ASUU chapters across the country to sensitise members of the public on the conflict between the union and the Federal Government.

Osodeke’s directive comes less than a week after President Muhammadu Buhari pledged the commitment of his administration to fulfilling the agreement with the union.

The last national strike by ASUU was in March 2020 and it lasted till December 2020, when a Memorandum of Action was signed.

However, a year after signing the MoA, ASUU accused the government of failing to fulfil its side of the bargain and threatened to mobilise for another strike immediately.

The government quickly moved to pay N55bn as part-payment for the Earned Academic Allowance and Revitalisation Fund.

But the union was unmoved until the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and other dignitaries waded in.

Prof Osodeke told Sunday PUNCH, that the lecture free day is not yet a strike action, but a way of sensitising the public, which includes the media, on the state of affairs between the union and the Federal Government.