Majority of Nigeria’s university teachers yesterday voted to end the four-month-old strike that has grounded the public university system in the country, according to a report this morning from Abuja.

“About 120 chapters of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held congresses at the various institutions and voted to suspend the strike, but insisted that the federal government begins to fulfil its promises immediately,” reports Daily Trust.

“The vote is expected to be ratified by the national executive council of ASUU at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow,” the paper says.

“ASUU executives will then meet with President Goodluck Jonathan the next day where the deal will be affirmed and the strike called off thereafter.”

ASUU has been on strike since July 1 over government’s inability to implement an agreement signed in 2009 aimed at improving infrastructure and human capital.

However, during recent negotiations, President Goodlcuk Jonathan agreed to provide N1.3tr in the next six years and the balance of N62bn earned allowance to each university.

Reports from ABU Zaria, Bayero University Kano and the Uthman Danfodio University yesterday said that the lecturers were willing to resume work, but urged the federal government to live up to its pledges.

But at the University of Jos, the ASUU members voted in favour of continuation of the strike for the reason that the meeting between the national leadership of the union and President Goodluck Jonathan last week did not achieve anything meaningful.

In a vote to that effect, 194 members voted for the strike to be sustained while 80 voted in favour of a suspension.

As reported by Daily Trust, addressing the congress in ABU Zaria, ASUU chairman of the chapter, Dr. Muhammad Kabir Aliyu, said his members would agree to call off the industrial action on condition that President Jonathan pays all the financial commitments he has made to the universities for this year.

From Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Secretary of the chapter, Malam Bashir Muhammed Achida, said ASUU members there unanimously voted to end the strike during their meeting at the main campus of the university.

At the Bayero University Kano, hundreds of ASUU members decided to accept the offer of the federal government. A senior lecturer said the meeting was attended by over 300 lecturers from all the campuses of the institution and lasted for four hours with the lecturers deliberating on the offer.

ASUU has scheduled a National Executive Council meeting tomorrow to consider the positions of the various chapters and take a decision.

•Photo shows ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge.

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