ASUU IS ON LEAVE, NOT STRIKE-NGIGE

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has stated that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on leave, not on strike.

The Minister disclosed this to Punch, stating that the ASUU didn’t forward a notification before going on strike.

Ngige further said that it was illegal for the academic union to go on strike without proper notification.

He said, “I am sure you know NIREC which is headed by the sultan and the CAN president. I am sure you also remember that the President mandated his Chief of Staff, the ministry of labour and the ministry of education to find a way to make sure that we resolve the issues with ASUU.

“Now, NIREC met with ASUU twice and they discussed some of these issues. The leadership of ASUU said they would go back and meet with their NEC. We were waiting for them to come back and then we heard they were going on strike.

“ASUU failed to get back to us and proceeded on strike without sending notifications. They just gave themselves a leave. If you want to go on strike, you should at least inform us officially by giving us notification but they refused to.

“You can not just go on strike like that, it is illegal. So, they are just on leave. We will work with them and they will call off the strike