AFTER more than 57 days in the doldrums, occasioned by boycott of classrooms by teachers, the doors of universities in Nigeria were once again thrown open as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) formally announced the suspension of the strike. The implication is that teachers should go back to the classrooms from Thurday.
Announcing the suspension of the strike during a press conference in Abuja, ASUU President Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie said the decision was premised on the "concrete" assurances it had received from the government to address some of the issues arising from the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, which led to the strike. Conceding the fact that, there could some set backs in the implementation process, he was up beat, however that given the high level of commitment demonstrated by the government officials during the negotiation, there could be a change of attitude.
However, government welcome the teachers' action, expressing the hope that the suspended the strike would be the last in the series of strikes in Nigerian university system. The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, while reacting to the suspension told The Guardian that government had always been committed to addressing identified problems within the university system.
According to him, "I'm happy they are going back to the classrooms I'm also hoping that this should be the last strike, because strikes have really not yielded anything at all in this country. At the level of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the committee that was to monitor the implementation, I believe we could have solved all these problems we didn't need to go on strike on this matter.''
The Guardian