Anthony Iwuoma
ASUU, Academic Staff Union of Universities is not going to embark on any strike as the Federal Government has said it would do everything possible to avert the threatened strike by the union.
The university dons’ union had issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement its agreement with them or face fresh industrial action.
The National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, had hinged the proposed fresh strike on the Federal Government failure to implement the Memorandum of Action, MoA, it signed with the union, which made the lecturers suspend their earlier strike that lasted for several months this year.
However, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, on Tuesday said the said strike would not happen.
Speaking on Channels Television, the minister insisted on the availability of funds for the universities.
He said: “The strike will not happen. For one, I know that the funds to pay are there and the Ministry of Education has assured me that by tomorrow, they will emanate letters to make sure that the disbursement reaches the accounts of the various universities.
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“We are not paying the unions directly, so it will get to the universities’ accounts.” 
Academic years of Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions have been subjected to frequent disruptions due to strikes by university dons not only for better welfare but also for better funding of university education.
ASUU, the umbrella body of the lecturers have been in the vanguard of these agitations and unless something drastic is urgently done, the public universities will be shut down yet again.
Private universities are directly benefitting from the imbroglio but are too costly for most Nigerians, which is also the reason why ASUU insists on adequate funding for public universities.
