As Nigerians groan over the economic hardship in the country following reforms embarked upon by the President Bola Tinubu administration, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vowed to fight the Federal Government.
ASUU acting Zonal Coordinator (Bauchi Branch), Prof Nanmwa Voncir, disclosed this on Friday while briefing journalists at the union’s secretariat in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Since coming to office last year, President Tinubu ended fuel subsidies and currency controls, leading to a tripling of petrol prices and a spike in living costs as the naira slid against the dollar. Many citizens have taken to the streets to register their displeasure with Tinubu’s style of leadership despite the president’s calls for patience.
However, during a press conference, Voncir deplored the conditions of service in the nation’s tertiary institutions as well as the sufferings the masses were subjected to.
“We will never run away from confronting the ruling class in this country as long as they will never do what is right,” he said.
“Even if it is just for the socio-economic trouble of this country, ASUU will stand up and fight government. It is not just for our conditions of service, if just for the economic situation of this country (and) the poor man suffering, ASUU will stand up and fight.”
ASUU acting Zonal Coordinator (Bauchi Branch), Prof Nanmwa Voncir, briefs journalists in Jos on February 23, 2024.
In 2009, the Federal Government entered into an agreement with ASUU on tripartite issues of conditions of service, funding, and university autonomy.
The body has been asking the government to honour the renegotiated agreement led by the late Emeritus Prof Nimi Briggs committee to avert looming strike action. They argued that the government’s honouring of the agreement would prevent the nation’s varsities from collapsing.
The union also raised concerns on numerous court cases instituted to address lingering issues that are responsible for the downturn in the tertiary institutions.