By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Any hope of seeing the suspension of the three months strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has evaporated like early morning dew as the Union has extended the industrial action by another 12 weeks starting from this Monday.
Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President broke the sad news on Monday, arguing that the federal government is playing pranks with the Union as nobody from government has meet with ASUU to resolve the issues which led to the strike action.
Professor Osodeke who spoke via telephone on Monday alleged that federal government is not serious to look into the complaints, adding that the university lecturers will not go back to the classrooms until their demands are met.
The ASUU President whose frustration could be noticed in his voice said the decision to extend the strike action was agreed at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja at the weekend .
Recall that the Union had in February this year, announced a four-week warning strike, which was extended by eight weeks in March following the inability of the union and the federal government to reach a common ground on the demands of the university lecturers.
Some of the demands of ASUU include the release of revitalization funds for universities, renegotiation and implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the UTAS payment platform for the payment of remuneration of university lecturers.
