ASUU Suspended Strike After Eight Months

The striking lecturers are expected to return to classrooms any time from now.

Report coming in has it that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its strike.

Though the decision is yet to be officially announced, a highly placed source confirmed to The Punch that the union decided to suspend the eight-month-old strike at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which was held at the ASUU secretariat in Abuja.

Recall that the NEC take a decision after an all-night meeting billed to commence on the evening of Thursday, October 13, 2022.

Meanwhile, a highly informed source within the NEC confirmed to The Punch that, “Yes, it has been called off.”

When asked for more details, the source said, “the president will release an official circular in the morning”.

What a coincidence: Today makes it exactly eighth months since ASUU suspended academic activities in government-owned universities on February 14, 2022, over Federal Government’s refusal to honour agreements between the two parties.

The government had, via the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, asked the National Industrial Court to compel ASUU to return to classrooms, after series of failed negotiations with the union.

ASUU lost in court: The court ordered lecturers to return to classrooms immediately but the union filed an appeal at the appellate court in Abuja to challenge the lower court’s decision.

However, Appeal Court refused to grant an hearing as the judge ordered ASUU to comply first with the lower court ruling, this was after the court had earlier advised the union to explore an out-of-court settlement with the federal government.

In what seems like end of the road for ASUU, branches of the union on Wednesday, October 12, held congresses to decide their next line of action, which seemed to have culminated in the suspension of the tortuous strike.