The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, on Thursday, December 9, said most of the agreements reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities were under made duress.

He said this during a retreat organized by the governing council of the University of Abuja.

Over the years, ASUU has always resorted to strike action over the Federal Government’s failure to fulfill some of the demands put forward by the body.

Echono said, “I have heard so much about the fact that the Government has failed to honor the agreements with ASUU. I have a different view about that because most of these agreements are imperfect.

“If somebody comes to my house and puts a gun to my head, I might agree to everything because those agreements are signed under duress. If you want to introduce obligations or responsibilities on their part, they will insist you cannot.”

Meanwhile, at the culmination of its scheduled zonal conferences on December 15, 2021, ASUU will decide its next course of action, Punch reports. The meetings are scheduled between December 9 and December 15 in Abuja, Nsukka, Ibadan, Yola, Benin, Akure, Lagos, Bauchi, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Sokoto, and Kano.

The decision to go on strike would depend on the conclusion of the zonal press conference, per Punch.

Recall that ASUU had on November 15, 2021, issued a 3-week ultimatum to the Federal Government asking it to meet its demands or face another strike action.

Some of ASUU’s major demands are funding for revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) promotion arrears, and the inconsistencies in IPPIS payment.

Following the expiration of the 3-week ultimatum, students of public universities are threatened by the reality of another strike – the last strike lasted 9 months, from March 2020 to December 2020.