ASUU and other university-based unions went on strike because the federal government had not complied with their agreements and demands, among other things, welfare, funding for universities, and payment systems. Due to the failure of numerous meetings, interventions, consultations, and FG-ASUU negotiations, the strike, which started on February 14, 2022, appears to have no climax.
To give the Federal Government more time to comply with its demands, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has prolonged its strike by an additional four weeks. The union made this decision at the end of its National Executive Council meeting on Sunday 31st July 2022, at its national secretariat in Abuja.
The union released the following statement through its president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke: “Following extensive deliberations and taking cognizance of the Government’s prior inability to address the issues mentioned in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action within its time frames (MOA), The NEC decided that the strike should be postponed for a further four weeks to give the government more time to address all outstanding issues adequately.”
By 1:00 am, August 1st, 2022, the continuation of the strike action will commence.
ASUU had early declared a month strike for its bodies on February 14, 2022, as regards its displeasure at the government’s refusal to abide by the rules of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed with the federal government and its refusal that all federal government workers use the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as their payment method.
The union suggested UTAS as a different method of paying salaries for its members due to errors in using IPPIS. On March 14, 2022, ASUU declared two months of the strike. After the initial two-month warning strike’s expiration, ASUU said another three-month strike by its body. For recording sake, the 168th day of the ASUU strike began on Monday, August 1, 2022.