Members of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) have warned of a looming indefinite strike action, if the government fails to prosecute officials allegedly involved in fraudulent activities in two research institutions.
In a protest on Tuesday in Abuja, members of the union said they will shut down critical sectors of the country, if the government moves to implement its ‘No work; No pay’ policy against any of its members in view of the strike action scheduled to commence on the 24th of October, 2017.
Speaking with DAILY POST on the sidelines of the protest, the National Secretary of ASURI, Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said: “One of our members, Harrison Siawe, the patriotic whistleblower on the fraud uncovered at Bio-resources Development Centre (BIODEC), Odi and the Director-General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Abuja has been under death threat.
“Presently, we have lost contact with him. We are informed that he is under protective custody of the police after a failed assassination attempt on his life during which he received several injuries.
“We demand that all officials of NABDA and BIODEC implicated by the EFCC in the scam should immediately be suspended that they should not interfere with proper and further investigation and the unearthing of additional fraud.
“We regret to state we will have no option than to direct our members to embark on an indefinite strike on October 24th, 2017, if we are not convinced that the machineries have not been put in place to address the issues we have raised.”
He added that the union had also vowed to resist the federal government’s refusal to complete building of the headquarters of the National Library after 10 years of commencement of the project
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