The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says its members remained resolute to get what public universities need from the Federal Government to survive and compete globally.

The Chairman of ASUU University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Ayo Akinwole who disclosed these assertions on Monday in Ibadan, noted that lecturers in public universities  have been using their blood to run public universities and sustain it.

“Lecturers retain Nigerian public universities with their blood, but is it right for Nigerians to say they should die on the job?  The government is owing us over eight years of verified earned academic allowances.

“Is it only ASUU that is on strike? Some sectors (research institutes) of the nation have been on strike for 13 months and the government has been paying their salaries.

“Is it an offence to become lecturers in Nigerian universities? What led to the strike? It is the non-responsiveness of the government that led to the strike,” he said.

The Chairman maintained that the union will not sacrifice its members’ welfare and will resist any effort to turn intellectuals to slaves and the union had given a 14-month strike notice to the Federal Government before commencing the strike in 2022.

Akinwole explained further that, even the effort of the Nigerian Inter-religious council in 2021 yielded no results before the union was forced to declare the strike on Feb. 14.

The chairman noted that the N1.1 trillion for the revitalisation of universities was not for lecturers in public universities and the amount was arrived at by the Federal Government through its NEEDS Assessment report on the level of decay in Nigerian public universities.

However, Akinwole thanked ASUU members for sacrificing and remaining resolute to reposition the nation’s public university education  and noted that strike is the only language understood by the Federal Government to adhere to their request for the past twenty-five years.