ASUU Strike: FG Threatens to Take Union to Court

• FG has threatened to take the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to court over the strike.

• The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige revealed that if negotiations to resolve the strike fails, the government is going to take legal steps.

• ASUU strike has been on since February 14, when the union implemented the no-work policy over the government’s failure to meet an agreement.

It’s been over 9 weeks since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on a strike. A one-month warning strike was first implemented by the union on February 14. ASUU had alleged that the government failed to implement an agreement that was reached in 2020.

On March 14, the union further extended the strike by 8 weeks over dissatisfaction with the government’s response to the situation.

Amid the strike, several meetings have been held between the federal government and ASUU’s leaders. Both sides have, however, failed to reach a compromise that will bring the strike to an end.

On Thursday, Nigeria’s minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige featured in an interview on Channels TV and he had a lot to say about the ASUU strike.

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Ngige threatened that the government may consider taking ASUU to the industrial court if negotiations to end the strike are futile. The labour minister claimed that the government cannot increase the salaries of varsity lectures by 180%, as was suggested in ASUU’s proposal.

Ngige stated that the ministry has given the renegotiation committee 6 weeks to submit its report, and the timeframe elapses this Friday. He revealed that by next week the Union and FG will hold another meeting regarding the ASUU strike. If the status quo remains the same after that, legal steps will be considered.

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