The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted that its members would not return to class until the Federal Government responds to its letter requesting it to put its promises to fund the universities in writing and sign it for future reference.
The National Treasurer of the union, Dr Ademola Aremu, who disclosed this said there can not be any meaningful progress until the government responds to the letter.
He stressed that ASUU’s request was the collective decision of members across the country and not the decision of the national leadership.
The unionist waved aside the announcement by the Federal Government that it had deposited a large sum of money to meet the demand of ASUU with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insisting that the proper way of communication with the union should be through a letter confirming the signing of the new agreement.
Describing government’s announcement as a mark of insincerity, Aremu said that the only way it can take government seriously on the issue is a letter confirming the signing of the agreement.
He said: “When we finished negotiation with the President, we promised to go and brief our members and communicate the popular decision of the union to his office. That was exactly what we did. The collective decision of members was that the government should put its proposal in black and white and sign it properly.
“So, if government wants to communicate with us, it should simply respond to the letter, not announcing through the media that certain amount of money was already with the CBN. That is not proper. We don’t believe that is a fair treatment.”
On the ultimatum, Aremu said it was a threat that can not intimidate any lecturer that is worth his salt.
“Any academic that is not an intellect work, that is actually an intellectual will not be intimidated by the threat. Nobody can humiliate you when you are fighting a just cause,” he said.