Based on him, the union has not signed any settlement with the Federal Authorities to call off the strike as being purported in some quarters.
He stated that the Federal Government had promised to meet a part of the settlement that led to lingering strike, however had failed to take action until date.
“It must be categorically stated here that ASUU never signed any agreement to suspend the strike but agreed on timelines for government to implement certain aspects of the issues in contention.
“For instance, one of the issues agreed was that all the six to nine months withheld salaries and check-off dues of ASUU members will be released by Dec. 9, but the date has passed and nothing was done.
“The N40 billion earned academic allowances and N30 billion funding for revitalisation will also be released by Dec. 11, among others issues, but till now, none has been fulfilled.
“The next thing is that we heard Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, telling the public that ASUU agreed to suspend the strike,” he stated.
Maigoro stated that the minister was quoted in some sections of the media that authorities has fulfilled its part of the agreement reached to allow the union to call off the economic action
“He was quoted to have said government had fulfilled its part of the gentleman agreement it entered with ASUU on Nov. 27.
“He was also quoted to have claimed that payment of the public university lecturers’ salaries being withheld would require presidential clearance due to the prevailing “No work, no pay” rule.
“It is important for Nigerians to note that salaries of lecturers of federal universities, who refused to enrol in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) were stopped in February before they went on strike in March.
“It should, however, be noted too that IPPIS and salary stoppage were not among the demands of ASUU but was introduced by the government as a distraction,” he noted.
He called on relevant stakeholders, mother and father and even college students to hitch ASUU in its bid to make sure a greater college and schooling system within the nation, quite than see lecturers as bad eggs.
Maigoro called on the federal government to indicate excessive of degree of sincerity in negotiating with ASUU, insisting that utilizing threats would additional worsen the problem.
