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BREAKING: ASUU calls off strike ‘conditionally’ after nine months

* Action will resume if govt fails to fulfil promises, says Ogunyemi

* That the strike lasted this long is sign of ‘State Failure’ — Utomi

By Kolawole Ojebisi

THE  Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) has agreed to end its industrial action, but conditionally.

The Chairman of the Union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, made the much awaited announcement during a briefing this morning in Abuja.

He, however, said the call-off was conditional.

ASUU and the representatives of the government, led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, had a closed-door meeting that lasted for eight hours.

The industrial action that started since March 2020 and lasted for 9 months after several meetings and negotiations.

According to ASUU’s official twitter handle, @Official_ASUU, “The Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) on Wednesday “conditionally” suspended its strike, ending a protracted industrial action that started since March 2020. He said the suspension of the strike takes effect from Thursday, December 24th, 2020.

“Professor Ogunyemi thanked students and their parents for their understanding throughout the nine-month period and said: “no amount of sacrifice would be too much to get the matter resolved as long as the government is consistent with its commitments.”

The quote continued, “While warning that the union would return to strike without notice if the government fails in meeting its part of the agreement reached with the university lecturers, Ogunyemi noted that the reopening of the schools, considering the COVID-19 pandemic, lies with the FG and Senate.”

One of the earliest reactions to the news was by the political economist and management expert, Professor Pat Utomi, who lauded the breakthrough in the logjam, but said that the fact that the strike had been allowed to last this long was itself a sign of “State Failure.”

Utomi, who was on live interview on Arise TV, when the news broke, said the strike and negotiations lasting 10 months was a sign that “there is no working government in Nigeria.”

How do you allow a situation such as this where students were not in school for 10 months, asked Utomi, stressing that there does not seem to be a seriousness of purpose in governance in the country.

To the academic and politician, who, at various times attempted to participate in the governance of the country at governorship and presidential levels, the ASUU-Government face-off that took almost a year, is a sign that the “Nigeria system has indeed collapsed.”

Referencing the trending editorial by Financial Times, which says that Nigeria is on a downward spiral, and showing signs of a “failed state,” Utomi said Nigeria the way it is being run is not ready to compete with other nations in the 21st century.

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