The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday conducted a nationwide referendum on whether to suspend the ongoing 3-month strike or to continue until the federal government responded favourably to their demand.
Daily Trust gathered that the national leadership of the union had on Monday directed its zonal coordinators to meet with their branch chairpersons to conduct the referendum on the offers of government and feed it back.
At the University of Ibadan chapter of the union, over 200 members who attended the congress voted for the continuation of the strike while a little above 50 voted for suspension with conditions.
The chairman of the University of Ibadan Chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, said on phone that the congress only conducted referendum on the offers of government saying the congress is the principal which guides the leadership of the union on their struggle.
He also hinted that government said as a sign of good faith, it will release N25billion for the revitalisation of universities while the rest will be defrayed after identifying sources to fund it.
Dr. Omole who stated that government agreed to pay additional N5billion to make the earned academic allowances N25billion out of the owed N105billion said ASUU wanted government to pay N30billion.
According to him, the federal government has agreed that the renegotiation should commence and end within six weeks.
Sources at the congress however informed that members voted for the continuation of the strike because they doubted government sincerity in fulfilling its new promises following the government failure of the Buhari administration to fulfil the Memorandum of Understanding until the ongoing strike.