NASU strike threatens to paralyse academic activities in Nigerian Universities again
The non-academic staff union are warming up for another strike, and university undergraduates may be forced to stay at home again.
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Barely eight weeks after the non-academic staff union suspended its industrial action, the university workers have warned they may resume their strike.
The workers according to Premium Times are angry over government's failure to implement the agreement it reached with them during the strike.
The workers are also angry at the Federal Government for giving approval to more universities instead of concentrating resources to raise the standard of the existing ones.
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The workers argue that establishment of universities has “almost become like constituency projects, as almost every senator seems to be sponsoring a bill for the establishment or upgrade of an institution to a university in his or her constituency.”
Recall that on Tuesday, December 4, 2017, the Joint Action Committee, JAC comprising of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU and National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT has directed its members in all universities across the country to resume their suspended strike.
The strike lasted for three months and academic activities at most of Federal Governments owned Universities were greatly disrupted.
In some universities, the university workers didn't allow lectures to hold.
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For instance, the workers prevented lecturers at the University of Ibadan to attend class as lecturers were chased out of lecture rooms.
In February 2018, Obafemi Awolowo University students were forced to prepare for their second-semester examination in darkness as the university workers refused to power the school generators.
The same thing happens in UNILAG as students had to sleep in darkness for days before the Vice Chancellor moved from hostel to hostel to apologise to students.
The University workers strike also forced UNILAG to postpone its 2016/2017 convocation ceremony from February to May 2018.
The Union may resume its suspended strike
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However, in a statement on Thursday, May 17, 2018, the workers urged Nigerians to persuade the federal government to implement the agreement to avert the resumption of the suspended strike.
The union accused the federal government of being reluctant to implement the Memorandum of Understanding it signed with them.
And this according to workers may prompt them to resume their suspended strike soon.
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