The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, has declared that the union members, owed eight months salary, cannot return to the classrooms on empty stomachs.
His comments puts paid to speculations of public universities being reopened for the remaining 24 days of this year. It is now obvious that the latest the schools can reopen is January, 2021.
Said Ogunyemi, “We are still consulting but certainly before the end of this week we will report to the minister the findings and feedback from our members.
“The offers people are talking about are proposals that have timeless and some of these things are expected to have been happening. If those things they promised with the timeline can happen before we conclude our consultation I think the process will go smoother.
“A concrete example is the payment of our members’ salaries which have not been paid. If people are not paid I don’t think anybody will be willing to go back to work and other things that have timeline that we expect government to implement.
“You don’t expect people, after eight months, to go back to the classrooms on empty stomach. That is where we are.”