ASUU Calls Off Eight-Month Strike

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its eight-month strike.

The decision was taken at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the ASUU secretariat located in the premises of the University of Abuja early Friday, October 14, with all states and zonal branch executive members in attendance.

  The meeting, which began Thursday evening and dragged into Friday morning, was to review recent developments, especially the ruling of the Court of Appeal ordering it to obey the earlier order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) to suspend the strike, before its appeal against the judgment could be heard.

  A senior official of the union said: “Yes, it has been called off.”

  This decision has elicited excitement from parents and students, who have been at home for about eight months.

  Prior to the decision, members were said to have been divided on whether to call off the action. While some universities voted for the suspension, others voted for conditional suspension of the strike, which it started on February 14, this year to protest the non-implementation of the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached with it by the Federal Government.

   The House of Representatives also intervened in the matter, raising the hope that the union could call off the strike soon.

  An official announcement was expected to be released to the public this morning by the union’s President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke.