The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday in Lagos vowed again not to call off the ongoing strike unless the Federal Government respects the 2009 agreement.
The union stated this at a press conference at the University of Lagos, Akoka, with many national officers in attendance. Addressing journalists at the event, ASUU President, Dr. Nassir Isa, said the lecturers would sustain the strike “for as long as it takes the Federal Government to be faithful to the implementation of the 2009 agreement and its renegotiation as contained in the memorandum of understanding reached by both parties in January, last year.”
He said the way the Federal Government had so far taken the issue and others surrounding it did not show that the government was ready to address the problems confronting the university education, the concern of the striking lecturers.
Isa explained that the union met with the government’s representatives, including members of the Senate Committee on Education for 10 times, the last was held five days ago since the commencement of the 52-day-old strike, but each meeting was always in deadlock “because government is still not being sincere to address the issues at stake”.
He noted that the N30bn the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the Federal Government had injected into the university education was not related to the 2009 agreement and the Universities’ Needs Assessment.
“The amount was part of the N92.8bn earned allowances owed the university workers and which, of course, they are entitled to.” The ASUU boss also noted out that the universities that were secretly conducting examinations, including post-UTME were doing so on their own perils as “lecturers are those in charge of conducting and marking of exams.”
While appealing to students, parents and other members of the public for understanding, the ASUU boss said the gains of the ongoing efforts by the union would soon benefit the education system and the country.
Also yesterday, the Bauchi zone of the union berated Okonjo-Iweala over comments that the Federal Government was incapacitated of meeting the N92bn being demanded by the union.
The union described the minister’s comments as embarrassing and uncoordinated, adding that ASUU’s stand, “if not addressed now, will hasten the decay in the education sector, which requires total revolution.”
The Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Usman Abubakar, at press conference in Bauchi, charged the Federal Government not to relent in the efforts to address the crisis brewing in the university system to save the future of the youths. Abubakar noted that the amount being demanded by ASUU was a debt owed by government.
He said: “We wish to inform the public that the said amount is a debt (not a demand) by the FG owed all staff of affected universities (both academic and non-academic) over a period of four years for which it has to pay, if it has to show signs of a responsible and honorable government.”
He said that the pronouncements by the minister were deliberate and calculated attempt to blackmail the union and confuse the public by attempting to “reduce the noble and patriotic cause that ASUU is struggling for to a mere payment of allowances.”
Abubakar said that the finance minister’s comments indicated that the government had no intention of honouring the agreement.
“How could the minister have made the claim of no money to honor the agreement when the finance ministry was represented throughout the negotiations for the 2009 ASUU/ FGN agreement and the MOU? Indeed, the representatives offered advice and contributions during these processes.
“What could be more dishonourable and deceitful by a government than this? “Equally devastating and shocking is the fact that negotiations that led to the MOU were led by no lower a personality than the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.” he said
Abubakar added that rubbishing the document by the minister, which was signed in the presence of Anyim, clearly undermined the authority and powers of the SGF office and amounted to national embarrassment.
He noted that the minister’s statement was a clear pointer to the insensitivity, inconsistency and lack of seriousness of the government in addressing the problems of education and the plight of the Nigerian youth.
He, therefore, called on Nigerians to join ASUU in pressuring the government to live up to its national responsibility by honouring the agreement it entered with the union.
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