Nigeria's varsity teachers suspend 3-month-old strike

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS

Nigerian varsity teachers suspended their three-month-old strike Thursday after getting the government to sign fresh agreements that included proper funding for tertiary education.

Biodun Ogunyemi, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), told a news briefing in the capital Abuja that the union has signed a Memorandum of Action (MoA) that would see the government take certain actions in the next few months, including paying allowances due to the teachers and releasing funds to revitalize public universities.

“Following a careful review of the report of engagements with the federal government on proposals for addressing all outstanding in the 2013 memorandum of understanding and 2017 MoA, [we] resolved that the current strike action by the union should be suspended conditionally with effect from 12 a.m. on Friday, 8th February 2019,” he said.

Ogunyemi said the union may well resume the strike if the government reneges on the new agreement.

“Our experience, as a trade union, shows that successive governments in Nigeria always entered into agreements only to placate those pleading the cause,” he said, adding such an attitude must always be challenged.

“While we put a closure to this phase of the struggle, it is our hope and desire that the Nigerian government will play the roles expected of them in order to make the new memorandum work. We shall never abandon our obligation to ensure the survival of a sound university system.”

The varsity teachers embarked on a strike on Nov. 4 over issues such as poor funding for tertiary institutions and unpaid allowances -- following a tradition of such strikes that dated back to the 1980s.