According to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) president Emmanuel Osodeke, there aren’t any active lecturers’ strikes right now.
The rumors have been going about since a ruling in favor of the federal government’s “no work, no pay” policy.
Reports claim that over the years, academics on strike have repeatedly interrupted the academic schedules of Nigeria’s public institutions in protest of inadequate funding, poor working conditions, and deteriorating infrastructure.
ASUU started its 16th strike in 23 years in 2022. The strike lasted for eight months.
The National Industrial Court (NIC) halted ASUU’s strike in September 2022 while a lawsuit was being heard.
The federal government stated that the lecturers would not be paid during their strike because of its ‘no work, no pay’ policy.
The court on May 30 upheld the government’s stance on the issue.
ASUU revisited the topic on August 19 at a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Maiduguri.
According to Osodeke, the ‘no work, no pay’ principle ignored the fact that only the teaching component of academic activity was suspended during the strike.
In response to the industrial court’s ruling, there have been indications that the union is mulling a new strike.
Osodeke referred to the reports as “malicious and unfortunate” in his answer.
One of the subjects covered at the ASUU NEC conference in Borno was promotion backlogs.
The union attributed the distortions in promotion arrears to the compelled enrollment of academics into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
According to Osodeke, the IPPIS job racketeering episode has “eroded the tradition of university employment.”
He claims that because of adverse working conditions, ASUU was made aware of the widespread academic flight from state universities.