Following the expiration of the 3 weeks ultimatum issued to the Federal Government by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the union says it has commenced consultation with its branches across the country to agree on the shutting down of public universities.

Recall that ASUU had on November 15, issued a 3-week ultimatum to the Federal Government, asking it to meet its demands or will be made to face another strike.

The union had urged the general public to hold the government responsible for another industrial action if it fails to address their demands within the three week given, stressing that ASUU is fully committed to upholding academic integrity in Nigerian universities to make them more globally competitive.

However, ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke who spoke with newsmen on Tuesday, lamented that the ultimatum ended on Sunday without a single effort from the Federal Government to address their demands.

According to him, the union is set to take action immediately the ongoing consultation with branches is concluded within the week.

He said, “We have referred it to the branches. They are to meet within the week and then reply back before we take a final decision”.

when asked if the union has fresh demands, Prof. Osodeke said, “we had raised about six items and we want the government to implement them.

“There are many issues we raised which the government has not addressed and until they do that, we are ready to take action”.

Some of the major outstanding issues that are still lingering include, funding for revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) promotion arrears, and the inconsistencies in IPPIS payment.

The Federal Government had during the 2020 prolonged strike agreed to implement the demands, leading to the suspension of the lecturers’ action. DAILY POST