Strike: Oshiomhole is a traitor - Varsity worker - As ASUU calls off strike for 2 weeks

THE 111-day-old strike declared by unions in the nation’s tertiary institutions, which has now been called off for two weeks by one of the unions —Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) — took a new twist on Thursday when former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress and governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was disowned by three of the four unions involved in the strike.

Oshiomhole had been invited by the Federal Government to broker peace between it and the unions but the officials of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) said, in Minna, Niger State that the step taken by the Edo State governor was at variance with his comradeship position.

SSANU, NASU and NAAT members of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, embarked on a peaceful demonstration on Thursday where they said they no longer recognised the Edo State governor as a comrade.
The union leaders, Saidu Ndagi and Ibrahim Abdullahi, who spoke on behalf of others, blamed Oshiomhole for the alleged twist in the crisis in the universities and described him as a ‘sell out’.
They also described as ‘untrue’, the claim that ASUU was in the forefront of the three-month old strike, adding that “we all went on strike and it is very unfortunate that Oshiomhole and the Federal Government opted to talk to only ASUU.”
Scores of members of the unions involved in the peaceful demonstration carried placards, some of which read “no going back on this strike,” “what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” “we say no to salary disparity in the university.”

The gates leading to the university were blocked by the protesting union members while those that had business to transact could not gain entry into the institution.
NASU, SSANU and NAAT officials said they would ensure that the universities were made not to function until the Federal Government listened to and addressed their demands.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has been urged to ensure that it signed, without any further delay, the terms of agreement it recently reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in order to facilitate a genuine and final resolution of the crisis bedevilling the education sector.
The call was contained in a statement by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU, NASU and NAAT of the University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD).

The agreements, according to the statement signed by the chairmen of the three unions at a JAC meeting held at the UNAD premises, bordered on university funding and genuine autonomy, improved condition of service and 65 years retirement age as earlier agreed with the Federal Government.
In a statement entitled “University strike-UNAD aligned with the National Joint Action Committee (JAC) decision “and signed by Messers Olaitan Akinwumi (SSANU), Julius Asaolu (NAAT) and Joseph Adegbola (NASU) and made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, the committee noted that the unions at all levels in UNAD had withdrawn all the concession services earlier granted.
“This action is premised on the action of the Federal Government that excluded the three unions from the resumed re-negotiation with ASUU as this runs contrary to the advice of the Committee of the Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors.
“Consequent upon this, the JAC (UNAD Branch) (consisting of all cadres of non-academic workers in the university community), who had been providing skeletal services since the commencement of the three-month old strike, resolved to put a halt to their services with immediate effect,” the statement read.

It urged its members not to succumb to any form of intimidation or threat from any quarter while obeying the directive of the three unions, admonishing them to ignore what it called sponsored propaganda which might make them derail.

In another development, ASUU will today in Owerri Imo State, suspend for two weeks the about four months industrial action embarked upon by the union over the failure of the Federal Government to sign an agreement it entered into with the union.
ASUU President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, who confirmed the development to the Nigerian Tribune, said the decision to open the doors of the universities to academic activities for only two weeks was to let the Federal Government hasten the release of the modalities for the return of peace to the nation’s university system.
He disclosed that the two weeks were enough to arrive at any meaningful negotiations aimed at ending the impasse.