Update: ASUU grounds 40 federal, 44 state varsities

About 40 federal and 44 state universities in the country, would be affected by the fresh strike which took effect, yesterday.
ASUU’s leadership insisted that the strike was total, comprehensive and indefinite and also threatened to
sanction any institution that would defy the strike order to conduct lectures, examinations or any nocturnal meetings for the period the action would last.
The strike followed the outcome of the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting held by ASUU’s leadership and state chairmen on Saturday in the FCT, Abuja.
The meeting culminated in the official announcement of the strike at the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abuja, yesterday 14th august 2017.
Speaking while declaring the indefinite strike at a press conference, National President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the action became necessary due to breach of the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, for the 2009 FG/ASUU Agreement on financing of state universities; breach of conditions of service; refusal of government to honour the Earned Academic Allowance, EAA, and re-negotiation of the agreement.
Ogunyemi said the 2009 agreement revolved around conditions of service, funding, university autonomy and academic freedom, all of which government had been lackadaisical in implementing.
The Federal Government is believed to owe universities over N880 billion in intervention fund as a fallout of a NEEDS Assessment report.
Also on the list of the union’s demands are government’s foot-dragging over ‘funds for the revitalisation of public universities, non-release of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO) operational licence, non-payment of earned academic allowances, payment of fractions/non-payment of salaries, retired professors and their salaries and university staff schools.