The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday rejected the Federal Government’s new offer of enhanced academic allowances, insisting that government should first implement in full the 2009 agreement before any other negotiation could take place.
National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who disclosed this to newsmen, said after consultations with branch chairmen of the union on the new government offer, members rejected it, saying accepting the offer meant starting negotiations afresh.
The ASUU boss, who said it seemed the Federal Government wanted to reduce the whole agreement to earned academic allowances, said “for us, the agreement has many other things that are very vital for revitalizing university system in this country.”
He said the branch chairmen who were contacted on the development rejected any move that would end up in government abandoning an agreement that was willingly signed and that the union did not want a development where a component of the agreement would be singled out by government.
“They said (branch leaders) that are not interested in re-negotiating the agreement for now, when you implement the agreement then we will talk about re-negotiation,” he said.