The Ladoke Akintola University Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday said the union is tired with the insincerity of the Mohammadu Buhari administration over failure to fully implement the agreements reached with the Union.
The Chairman and Secretary of the Branch Drs. Biodun Olaniran and Toyin Abegunrin respectively stated this in a release after the Congress of the Union.
According to the duo who reacted to the promise of President Muhammadu Buhari that he will fulfill agreements reach with the Union, the ASUU leaders stated that promises cannot replace implementation of the agreement.
ASUU stated that while agreements have been reached government has refused to sign what will make the welfare of lecturers to be better and employing merry-go-round tactics.
According to them, their members have resolved to embark on an indefinite strike since government was not ready to do the needful.
While asking Nigerians to prevail on government to avert the impending strike, the Union said it has allowed many stakeholders to talk to government saying government is portraying the Union as a dog who can only bark not bite.
“Our Union, ASUU, is using this medium to call upon the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria once again to implement the agreement it (FG) has signed with ASUU. It is unfortunate to mentioned that the FG signed agreement with the ASUU since 2009 but the agreement is not implemented till date. The agreement was renegotiated in the name of peace. But to our dismay, the government has refused to sign the renegotiated agreement. In order to make the implementation of the agreement easy for the FG, the union has limited its demands to only two:
• Signing/implementation of the renegotiated agreement of 2009. Adoption of the University
• Transparency and Accountability Software (UTAS) instead of the controversial IPPIS.
“Conclusions on these matters have been reached with the government several months ago but yet, the FG is avoiding the final stage of signing the agreement. All the FG was doing is promising all the time. The FG has taken the union for a toothless bulldog that can only bark but cannot bite. We, as a union have taken time to pull the long rope with the government until our patience is completely exhausted. Our union is tired of the merry-go-round approach devised by the government about the same issues. We can no longer tolerate the swinging pendulum (with a declining amplitude) attitude the government set for us. We have endured enough with such insincerity.
“We have resolved to embark on indefinite strike action if government failed to yield to our demands within a specified period of time. The union therefore, is using this medium to call on the well-meaning Nigerians and the general public to call the FG to order in this respect, and that it (government) should respect its agreement with ASUU.”