Regina Otokpa 
As the ultimatum from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the Federal Government expires, the union has said its National Executive Council (NEC) would reassemble to weigh available options and consider its next options. ASUU had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in December 2020, after the government promised to meet its demands which led to suspension of its nine months strike at the time.
But the union had given the government till the end of August 2021, stating that the government had failed to fulfil its promises. President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday in Abuja, stressed that the union has never indicated any intentions of embarking on strike. According to him, there are processes for embarking on a strike which includes due consultations with all ASUU chapters should the government fail to implement its promises to the aggrieved lecturers. He said: “ASUU never proposed a strike action; we said if the government does not meet all our demands by the end of August, the union will meet and consider the action to take.
“But the country should hold the government responsible for any action we take and that was what we said; we didn’t mention embarking on strike. “The ASUU president cannot just wake up one morning and pronounce we are going on strike not even the principal officers, we have to go through our branches “The ultimatum will end today so we will hold a meeting with our members to determine the way forward.”
