By vincent ujumadu
THE Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of Anambra State University, ANSU, yesterday called off its six months old strike, announcing immediate resumption of academic work in the two campuses at Uli and Igbariam.

ASUU, which took the decision at its congress held at the Igbariam campus of the university, said the strike had to be suspended because the chairman of the governing council of the university, Professor Elochukwu Amaucheazi, had finally signed the agreement reached between the union and the state government after a long period of negotiation that involved leaders of thought, religious leaders and traditional rulers.

A source at the meeting said ASUU gave the state government up to the end of March this year to implement fully the controversial ASUU/federal government agreement of 2009 which was the bone of contention, failure of which it might review the suspension.

According to the source, the union accepted the implementation of 60 per cent increase in the salaries of lecturers from November 2010 to January this year, while the 100 per cent increase would take effect from February 2011, which was why the union gave up till March for authorities of the university to ensure full implementation of the agreement.

It was also gathered yesterday that the new acting vice chancellor of the university, Professor Fidelis Okafor, pleaded with members of ASUU not to insist on payment of arrears, adding that the university was prepared to start the implementation from next month.

Chairman of the council, Professor Amucheazi, had at a news conference in Awka last week, appealed to the striking lecturers to return to work in the interest of the students.

He had also promised that as part of efforts to improve facilities in the university, government would embark on more capital projects in the two campuses, while many professors of the state origin abroad have volunteered to return home to teach in the university at reduced allowances.

While the strike lasted, there was a division among the lecturers, with some of them succumbing to the threat of the governing council to go back to work or consider themselves as having voluntarily withdrawn their services.

Those who obeyed the order had been receiving their salaries, although no academic work had taken place ever since.

The strike however took a new dimension when the state governor and visitor to the university, Mr. Peter Obi two weeks ago removed the acting vice chancellor, Professor Chukwunenye Anene and replaced him with Professor Fidelis Okafor who was the provost of the state –owned Nwafor Orizu College Education, Nsugbe.

The main issue of the strike was the insistence of the lecturers on salary parity with their counterparts in Federal Universities. The lecturers had hinged their argument on the fact that the agreement reached between ASUU and the Federal Government in 2009 affects all universities because it is the same standard of education that prevails in the country.

But the state government argued that the clause in the agreement made it abundantly clear that the agreement between ASUU and federal government affected only lecturers in Federal Universities, adding that states had to negotiate with workers in their universities based on their ability to pay.

During the negotiation, the state government increased its subvention to the university from N50 million monthly to N90 million, while the Internally Generated Revenue of the university is to be increased to the tune of N70 million a month.

Though it could not be confirmed yesterday, it was gathered that authorities of the university are likely to increase school fees from N35, 000 paid presently by students to N100,000 per session to accommodate the anticipated revenue increase.