Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), asserts that new strikes by academics at public universities cannot be ruled out in 2023.
In a live interview on Channels TV on Saturday, Ogunyemi announced this and accused the Federal Government of being insensitive to the condition of lecturers. She also observed that it goes against justice for those who have been forced to labour in arrears to not be paid in arrears.
READ ALSO: Raheem: NBA Seeking N5 Billion Damages, Speedy Cop Prosecution
“We must understand what triggers strike action. I don’t think anybody can promise you there will be no strike (in 2023),” Ogunyemi said when asked whether there won’t be any industrial action in 2023.
No ASUU leader, according to Ogunyemi, can ensure that the union won’t go on another strike in 2023. Ogunyemi passed the reins over to Emmanuel Osodeke, the current ASUU president, in May 2021.
Ogunyemi stated “I don’t think any ASUU leader can promise that because when our members’ salaries are withheld because if government is saying no work, no pay, then at some point, our members can say no pay, no work.
“The work they said they said our members did not do in 2022 between February and October, many universities have made our members to do the work; they have taught courses that were left untaught, they have conducted exams that were not conducted and they are about graduating students that ordinarily supposed to lose the session because the government failed.
“In our universities today, our members are being made to teach in arrears. If the government is withholding arrears of their salaries, things may get to a head where our members will insist that their salaries be paid.”
