Gombe Varsity Backs Out of ASUU Strike, Resumes Academic Activities

There are indications that Gombe State University (GSU) has backed out of the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike as the school management announced the resumption of academic activities.

Recall, that the ongoing ASUU strike began on February 14, 2022, before the Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, and Allied Educational Institutions (NASU) National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) joined.

Some of the things the union is agitating for include; the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

The union on August 1, 2022, rolled over the strike for additional four weeks, following alleged failure by the government to address the issue.

However, the management of GSU announcing the resumption of academic activities in an internal memo released on Thursday, August 18, 2022, by the school’s Deputy Registrar (Academics), Musa Sarki, asked all the 100-level students of the university to report to their respective department on Monday, August 22, 2022.

The statement read in part, “Consequent upon consultations held among the various stakeholders in the university, it was resolved to allow 100 level students to report back on Monday, August 22, 2022 to complete their registration processes, matriculate and complete the first semester, 2021/2022 academic session.

“Accordingly, all 100 level students are to report to their respective department on Monday.

Reacting to the decision of the school authorities to reconvene 100 level students, the GSU ASUU chairman, Dr. Suleiman Jauro, said the Association would only decide on its next line of action after a meeting on Friday.

He said, “I will only speak after a meeting of the union. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, the national president of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, in response to a statement by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, that the Federal Government would not concede to ASUU’s demands for the backlog of salaries withheld within the period has said the not to call off its strike until the salary arrears of its members were paid.

Osodeke said, “He is joking. If they fail to pay, we will not teach those students; we won’t make up for that period. We will start a new session (2022/2023). We won’t conduct examinations; we will start a fresh session totally.

“Lecturers are not doctors that once life is gone, it can’t be brought back. For lecturers, we can still resume where we stopped and still teach them and make up for lost time. But for us, if they fail to pay we won’t make up for the lost time. We won’t go back to fill backlogs; the schools will start a new session, 2022/2023. Examinations and the period lost won’t be taught.”

He added, ‘’If they want to do ‘no work no pay,’ we will also do ‘no pay no work.’ If they won’t pay the backlog, we won’t teach the backlog. We are not like other workers. He doesn’t know what he is saying.”

Explaining why the meeting with the government had been unable to resolve the lingering strike in a statement on Thursday, Osodeke explained that the government’s offer was poor.

He disclosed that the union told the Federal Government through the ministry of education to return to the New Draft Agreement of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Renegotiation Committee whose work spanned a total of five and half years as a demonstration of good faith.