The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has appealed to the UN to ask President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to reach an agreement over the ongoing industrial action.
In a statement issued on Sunday, SERAP’s Senior Legal Adviser, Ms Bamisope Adeyanju, said the lingering strike continues to have dire consequences on the right to higher education in the country.
According to Adeyanju, by failing to prevent and end the ongoing strike action by ASUU, the Nigerian government has defied and breached the explicit requirements of the right to equal access to higher education by Nigerian children and young people, under article 13 (2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
ASUU commenced the indefinite strike in November and despite weeks of negotiations with the government, no agreement has been reached.
The union is alleging failure by the government to implement a 2009 agreement and the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding in which it had agreed to release N220 billion yearly.
According to ASUU, the government in 2017, however, said it would release N20bn as a mark of commitment that it had not abandoned that 2013 MoU.
SERAP has, however, called on the UN to ask the government to take immediate action to end the deadlock in negotiations with ASUU and reach an amicable settlement that would ensure that the universities are reopened without further delay.
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