The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to reconstitute the Governing Councils of the federal universities and also meet other demands of the union as contained in agreements it signed with the government.

ASUU said it won’t guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the universities after the period if the government fails to meet its demands.

ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

Osodeke disclosed that the decision was taken at the meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the union which ended in Abuja on Monday.

He said: “Imagine the level of illegalities and impunities going on in the universities. The Vice-Chancellors are practically running the institutions like a sole administrator. That’s an illegality that can only happen in Nigeria.

“Several decisions that ought to be reviewed and taken by the Council are being taken by the VC with some of them claiming that they got approval from the Minister of Education.

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“Sadly, despite the presidential directive early in the year, our members are still being paid through the IPPIS platform. This has inflicted unprecedented hardship on our members and fraudulently distorted university operations. That’s against the university’s autonomy.

“Similarly, the Federal Government recently adopted salary awards, but we have consistently stated that salary awards are not a substitute for a negotiated agreement.”

The ASUU boss, however, said the decision of the two-week ultimatum is to awaken the consciousness of the government to the challenges, stressing that the silence of the government on several issues highlighted is affecting the smooth running of the universities.

Osodeke added: “A number of other issues on which ASUU has been engaging owners of public universities (federal and state governments) in the last decade or so are yet to be meaningfully addressed.

“These include the sanctity of legally constituted Governing Councils, review of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreements, revitalisation fund for public universities, earned academic allowances and withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and third-party deductions of our members.

“The other issues are ongoing illegal recruitments in the system, proliferation of public universities/abuse of universities rules/processes and inclusion in the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and new IPPIS vis-a-vis the autonomy of universities.

“In view of the critical review of the current state of affairs in our universities, as well as in our nation at the last ASUU NEC meeting, the Council condemned the seeming refusal of federal and state governments to decisively address all outstanding issues with the union.

“NEC thus rejected all the ongoing illegalities and flagrant violation of university autonomy in public universities as a result of non-reinstatement/reconstitution of Governing Councils and decided to reconvene in two weeks from the date of the NEC meeting to review the situation and take a decisive action to address the issues.”

The Star