ASUU to engage with Fed Govt, says ex-President

Immediate past president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, has said the union will continue to engage the Federal Government on the union’s demands and academic issues.

The Federal Government is yet to fulfill some of its agreements with the union, after it called off its last strike.

Ogunyemi, who handed over to a new national president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, yesterday, said his successor would continue the union’s mission from where he stopped.

In an interview with The Nation on phone, Ogunyemi said: “My successor was among the last national officers of the union. And he knows every bit of our outstanding mission. We have issues with government and they are not fully resolved, like you said.

“But the union has resolved to continue to engage the government as we have been doing in the last few months. I believe the new president will be able to pick it up from there.”

The former union leader said he was leaving ASUU more united, focused and that whatever milestones were recorded under his leadership were accomplished collectively.“No ASUU president can claim to have any personal achievements because we run collective leadership in ASUU.

“So, every decision, every action that you see the national president making or taking must have been approved by the appropriate organs of the union and they will be part of the process.

“So, I will say that our set of national officers of the union enjoy the fullest cooperation of the National Executive Council (NEC). And all the mums that our members placed before us, we succeeded in tackling.

“We may have some that are outstanding, but it is not because we did not push.

“So, the union, in the last five years that I have coordinated its activities, has become more focused, more engaging and more united. So, I believe my successor will take it up from there to address the outstanding issues that we were not able to resolve.”