NEWS GENIE

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has extended its warning strike by eight weeks, the union said on Monday. ASUU reached the decision after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the University of Abuja secretariat of the union following the expiration of its one-month warning strike. It hinged its decision on the unseriousness of the Federal Government. “NEC, having taken reports on the engagements of the Trustees and Principal Officers with the Government, concluded that Government had failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) within the four-week roll—over strike period and resolved that the strike be rolled over for another eight (8) weeks to give Government more time to address all the issues in concrete terms so that our students will resume as soon as possible,” a statement by ASUU’s president, Emmanuel Osodeke, read. “The roll-over strike shall commence by 12.01 am on Monday, 14 March 2022.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Thursday said the Federal Government has dealt with most of the demands of the Academic Staf f Union of Universities (ASUU). ASUU, which is currently on a one-month strike, are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities and academic autonomy among other demands. “A lot of them have been dealt with after our meeting in October last year,” Mr Ngige said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “That’s why I said I was shocked they went on strike. READ ALSO: TUC Threatens To Embark On Nationwide Strike “The only place where they have a point to hold onto and do their strike is on the issue of renegotiation of 2009 – conditions of service, because their conditions of service was supposed to be reviewed.” The Minister noted that the academics have produced an interim report on conditions of service which was rejected by the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission (NSIWC). “B

    Russian forces landed in Ukraine’s second-biggest city on Wednesday and triggered immediate clashes in the streets of Kharkiv, the military said, following Moscow’s relentless air assault across the ex-Soviet state. The airborne operation came as US President Joe Biden branded Vladimir Putin a “dictator”, warning the sanction campaign to cripple Russia’s economy would escalate and its oligarchs were being targeted. In Biden’s first State of the Union address, he hailed the resolve of the Western alliance and voiced solidarity with Ukraine as lawmakers in the US Congress gave a standing ovation to the Ukrainian people. READ ALSO:  US Says Russian Advance On Ukraine Capital, Kyiv, Stalled “A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world,” Biden told lawmakers in his annual State of the Union address, promising “robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at Russia’s economy.” But as he spoke a Russian escalation was reported to be under