Iyayi’s death: ASUU suspends meeting indefinitely, strike continues

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Iyayi’s death: ASUU suspends meeting indefinitely, strike continues 
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting initially scheduled to hold at Bayero University, Kano, on Wednesday, over the death of Festus Iyayi, a former ASUU President, who died in a car accident on Tuesday on his way to the meeting.

ASUU President, Nasiru Fagge, told the media on Wednesday afternoon the meeting was suspended indefinitely to honour Late Festus Iyayi.

Mr. Iyayi was involved in a fatal auto crash allegedly caused by the convoy of the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada.

Several members of the executive council from various universities across Nigeria were already in Kano for the meeting.

ASUU has been on strike since July 1 and the NEC meeting was to deliberate on the resolutions of various chapters of ASUU on whether the strike should be suspended or not.

A top ASUU official had told The City Reporters that lecturers were set to end the strike over the weekend so students could return to reading ways on Monday, November 18, 2013.

He said the government’s news offer of N220bn annual injection into Nigeria’s varsities, amongst other benefits; although not the implementation of the 2009 agreement over which ASUU went on strike, was too good to turn down.

The official said since the decision would come down to a vote among the 28 chapters of ASUU, 20 of which had voted to end the four month old strike, Nigerian varsities would bounce back to life on November 18.

However, the death of Professor Iyayi has proved a real bad news for not only his bereaved family but also for students with ASUU now opting to suspend their NEC meeting indefinitely in honour of its late president.

The latest development means students would have to wait for the lecturers to fix a new date for their NEC meeting where they would deliberate on whether to end their impasse with the FG, or not.

As at the time being, the end to the strike is no longer in view.