ASUU Akure zone urges members to join Tuesday’s nationwide rallies

By Boye Oyeyemi –

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure Zone, has called on its members across institutions to participate in nationwide rallies on Tuesday, in a bid to press their demands before the Federal Government.

The Zonal Coordinator, Adeola Oyebisi Egbedokun, disclosed the plans during a press conference at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, on Monday, describing the rallies as the union’s first response to continued government inaction.

Egbedokun said the demonstrations will be held simultaneously across Nigerian universities, with academic activities suspended during the protests.

According to him, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU had set August 28 as the deadline for government response, after which further action will be determined.

The union’s demands include the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, opposition to the Tertiary Institution Social Support Fund (TISSF) loan scheme, halting the proliferation of universities and improved retirement benefits for professors and staff.

“For over two years, we have kept faith with dialogue and refrained from strikes, but our patience has reached its limit. If government continues to play games with the future of our universities, then it must bear the consequences of the storm that will follow,” he warned.

“This government has chosen to mock knowledge, insult scholars, and trample on the foundation of the nation’s future. Enough is enough.

“The ball is no longer in our court. It is squarely in theirs. Let them choose: justice or judgement, action or upheaval, peace or storm.”