Lauretta Onochie who is President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant on Social Media has come out to openly accuse the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of trying to pull a major blackmail on the Federal Government of Nigeria.
While reiterating this, Onochie had also urged the Nigerian National Assembly to make sure that they enact laws that would mandate ASUU to pay the salaries of striking members. Onochie said it is unfair for ASUU executives to live off the union’s dues alone.
Read Also: ASUU Strike: Nigeria’s University System Must Work – Osodeke
In a tweet, Onochie wrote: “ASUU has blackmailed every government in Nigeria. The National Assembly should enact a law that mandates ASUU to pay the salaries of striking members.
“The current situation where ASUU executives alone, live off Union Dues leaving members high and dry, is unfair to their members.”
ASUU has reportedly been on strike since February 2022 over the Federal Government of Nigeria’s inability to fulfil its 2009 agreements.
The lingering strike is also a result of the government’s refusal to accept the UTAS software developed by the union for payment of lecturers’ salaries.
In another report, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke has assured Nigerians that the union would work tirelessly to ensure that the country’s educational system works effectively.
Osodeke, responding to questions during an interview with Channels Television, Politics Today which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York, contended that the deterioration in the educational section of any country, particularly the University will inevitably affect other sectors of that country.
Osodeke who disclosed that ASUU would come together with the Federal government tomorrow to renegotiate said:
‘What we are doing is sacrificed for this country called Nigeria. A collapse in university education, is a collapse country and we are almost there. We will not be tired to ensure that this system works.’
Asked if ASUU had heard any response from the government, Osodeke said: ‘Although they invited us, we have not heard any serious communication from the government. They are inviting us on the issue of renegotiation tomorrow for the 2009 agreement and we don’t know what they are coming with. The issue has to do with funding, structure, autonomy and other issues on how to raise funds to run the university.’