By Adeyinka Adeniran
The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) Chapter, Dr Adefemi Afolabi has described as panicky and knee-jerk response, the decision of the Federal Government to impose a no work no pay on the striking members of the union.
He spoke with The Nation when contacted on the development and the ongoing strike on Tuesday.
According to Afolabi, instead of the approach, the FG should convene the meeting with the Union to sign the draft agreement which the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed Committee submitted.
He added that, the warning strike action could have been prevented if the report that was submitted to the government through the Minister of Education in February, 2025 had been signed.
Dr Afolabi said, “This is a panicky and knee-jerk response that is not a recipe for the resolution of this crisis. The Federal Government of Nigeria should convene the meeting with our Union to sign the draft agreement which the Alhaji Yayale Ahmed Committee submitted.
“This warning strike action could have been prevented if the report that was submitted to the Government through the Minister of Education in February, 2025 had been signed.”
The striking ASUU members began a 14-day warning strike on Monday in spite of the government’s appeal to them to have a rethink since it had agreed to most of their demands that are within the purview of the government.
Corenews reports that the FG through the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa directed Vice-chancellors to strictly implement the ‘No work, No-pay’ policy on striking members of the ASUU.
He also ordered vice-chancellors to carry out physical headcounts of lecturers who report for work, adding that the National Universities Commission(NUC) would monitor compliance with the directive and submit a ‘’consolidated report’’ to his ministry.
Alausa gave the directive in a letter addressed to the vice-chancellors saying that the government was disappointed that the strike commenced despite repeated calls for the union (ASUU) to embrace constructive dialogue.
