Everything being equal, the five months old industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will end this weekend, allowing students of Nigeria’s public universities to return to school for the first time since July 1.

Sources with an inside knowledge of what transpired at the ASUU National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting held yesterday in a secret location in Kano indicate that the majority of ASUU members believe the strike should not be stretched any further.

Members of ASUU NEC parked their cars at the old in Bayero University Kano (BUK) site and entered a PTF coaster bus which zoomed off to an undisclosed location for the meeting. ASUU NEC was to met last week Wednesday but the meeting had to be postponed when former ASUU National President, Prof. Festus Iyayi, died the previous day in a motor accident on his way to Kano from Benin.

As reported yesterday by News Express, the strike has lately started weakening. At the Niger State-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), some academic staff have already resumed teaching while the Adamawa State University and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Ondo State have also reportedly pulled out of the strike, with Enugu State University (ESUT) at the verge of following suit.

Elsewhere, news filtered in that the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Lagos State University (LASU) were set to conduct degree and matriculation examinations outside their campuses, even as UNILAG, LASU and the University of Jos (UNIJOS) had all scheduled to conduct the post-UTME examinations.

Worried by this development, president of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge has warned vice chancellors to desist from conducting off-campus examinations or other academic activities, as such moves could jeopardise the stand of the union.

His words: “We appeal to our VCs to cease from further eroding the credibility of the academic profession which the iconic status of their offices represents. They should remember that they are destroying themselves and their professional calling by desecrating the sacred ethos of university degree and selection examination.”

•Photo shows ASUU President Comrade Nasir Fagge.

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