The Academic Staff Union of Universities has turned down
President Goodluck Jonathan's plea for the lecturers to
end their 114-day-old strike.
The Chairman of ASUU at the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile Ife, Prof. Adegbola Akinola, and his
University of Ibadan chapter counterpart, Dr. Olusegun
Ajiboye, said university teachers would only return to the
classrooms if the government honoured the 2009 agreement
it entered into with them.
They spoke just as the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, berated the union, saying it had taken
unionism to an all time low.
Cross section of stakeholders at a meeting to review the
ongoing strike by ASUU held at the Trenchard Hall of the
University of Ibadan on Monday. Photo: Vanguard.
But Akinola told journalists during a rally staged by
members of the union in Ile-Ife on Monday, that Jonathan
needed not beg for the strike to be called off.
He said, "ASUU does not need any plea from Mr. President.
We are not asking for impossible things. The Federal
Government reached an agreement with us and we are
asking them to honour it. It is so simple.
"Government should be honourable. Is it honourable not to
honour an agreement? Certainly no. The Federal
Government should not allow the public universities to
continue to degenerate. Posterity will not forgive us if we
allow public universities to totally collapse.
"Our country has the resources to honour the agreement but
education is not given priority.
"The Minister of Aviation (Mrs Stella Oduah) just got
two bulletproof cars bought for N255m by an agency under
her supervision. So, who do you want to tell that this
country does not have the resources?
"We won't allow public universities to be destroyed. That is
why they are establishing private universities all over the
country with the nation's money. Except those owned by
the missionaries, tell me which of the private universities
was not established with the nation's resources?"
Akinola said that infrastructure were decaying in public
universities because of the neglect they had suffered.
He explained that the strike was not about members of the
union but a means to force the government to do the right
things.
The ASUU chief warned that children from poor homes
might no longer have access to university education if the
union should succumb to the blackmail being employed
against it by the government.
Also Ajiboye said at a town hall meeting and presentation of
the National Economic Empowerment Development
Strategy assessment report to clerics , civil society, labour
and students at the Trenchard Hall, UI on Monday, that
Jonathan's plea would not make ASUU end the strike.
He said, "Will the President be quiet if his children are in
one of our public institutions and be at home for four
months? Does he care about the future of the country while
the children of the masses in public institutions have been
asking their leader to be more sensitive and patriotic enough
to public institutions?
"How many years of appeal will make the President
implement a four-year-old agreement? The truth is that we
are tired of appeals. We need action .
"In ASUU, our belief is that today's event will shape the
future. We cannot live on appeal while the children of the
rich use public funds to study abroad and even make use of
government scholarship scheme."
However, about 200 heavily armed policemen on Monday
stopped members of ASUU from carrying out an
enlightenment walk on the strike in Calabar, Cross River
State.
The walk was organised by the University of Calabar and
Cross River State University of Technology branches of
ASUU.
It was to take off from the UNICAL gate at 7am through
some streets of Calabar, but the policemen ensured the union
members did not leave the gate of the institution.
They said they were acting on "orders from above."
The Chairman ASUU, UNICAL branch, Dr. James
Okpiliya, said, "Our union is law- abiding. We wrote to the
police and other security agencies on our intention of
walking the streets in pursuance of our cause to put the
records straight.
"Many groups have been walking the streets giving people
the wrong impression about the situation. We just want to
put the records straight. The police are telling us that they
have orders from above not let us walk the streets of
Calabar. It is a shame. You can all see the hypocrisy of
government.
"They allowed youths and market women but they would
not let us do the same. We would remain resolute. No
amount of provocation would stop us.
"We are not on strike because of our salaries. We are
fighting for our students and the terrible conditions of our
universities. Most of our science students do not know the
difference between a Bunsen burner and a stove. They don't
even know the chemicals.
"The Tertiary Education Trust Fund today has become a
main funding source of our universities, but this is not to be
so. TETFUND is only an intervention agency. Government
has bailed out banks and even Nollywood, but not our
universities.
"The strike would continue as long as the government
remains adamant. The President said after all, the strike in
Ghana lasted two years; so that means this one could
continue even up to five years."
The Chairman of ASUU, CRUTECH branch, Dr Nsing
Ogar, said the Federal Government must honour the 2009
agreement.
But university administrators in the country on Monday
expressed concern over the strike and appealed to both
ASUU and the Federal Government to urgently reach a
compromise on the issue.
The National President of the Association of Nigerian
University Professional Administrators, Mr. Samuel
Mwansat, made this appeal at the ongoing annual retreat of
the National Council Members of the association at the Tai
Solarin University of Education, Ijagun in Ogun State.
He stressed that the current disagreement between ASUU
and the government required "understanding."
In Abuja, Okonjo-Iweala, accused ASUU of taking
unionism to an all time low with its latest approach to the
strike.
She accused the union of introducing politics to the
strike through the distribution of "flyers riddled with lies
in mosques in the North."
The minister, in a statement by her Special Adviser, Paul
Nwabuikwu, said contrary to the position being spread by
ASUU, she had not taken a "take-it-or-leave-it approach" to
the face-off between the union and government.
She claimed that it was ASUU that had taken such an
approach, saying no government had been as responsive
to the demands of the striking lecturers as that of Jonathan.
The statement reads in part, "Contrary to some recent
media reports, the Federal Government has not adopted a
take-it-or-leave-it approach in its negotiations with ASUU.
Rather, the approach is focused on positive engagement and
achieving sustainable solutions to the challenges facing
higher education in the country.
"That is why President Jonathan recently appealed to
ASUU to respond to government's positive steps by calling
off its strike in the interest of suffering students and parents.
"Despite this, for several days now, some elements in ASUU
have been distributing pamphlets and flyers with abusive
and inflammatory messages against Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in
mosques and other places. This is taking academic unionism
to a new low and infusing it with unnecessary politics. I am
sure majority of ASUU members are not in support of this."
She said the government was working hard to seek
practical and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing
higher education in the country.
According to her, " The President has made available
N100bn a year in the first instance to repair hostels,
laboratories and classrooms and other facilities in the
universities.
"An offer of N30bn has also been made to ASUU towards
the earned allowances of its members."
Sources: Punch
