ASUU STRIKE: We Will Not Call Off The Strike Until…..

The
Academic
Staff Union of Universities has said it will not
suspend its ongoing strike until the four
months salaries owed its members are paid.
The union also wants the immediate
implementation of the N1.2tn offer by the Federal
Government to public universities, starting with
the release of N100bn this year. The balance of
N1.1tn is to be spread over five years from 2014.
These were some of the resolutions reached by
members of the National Executive Council of the
union who converged on Kano on Friday to
deliberate on whether to call off the over four-
month-old industrial action or not.
A source, who was privy to the resolutions reached
during the President Goodluck Jonathan – ASUU
leadership meeting three weeks ago, told The
PUNCH on Sunday, that the fresh demands were
some of the issues to be tabled before Jonathan by
the leadership during their next meeting. A date
for the meeting is yet to be fixed.
According to the source, a strong commitment to
two demands, among other pending issues, must
be obtained from the President before the
industrial action will be called off by the union.
He said, "The issue now is on trust and we do not
want a situation where promises will not be kept.
The authorities have failed us in the past and we
do not want a repeat of that.
"That was why we decided at the NEC meeting that
the government should pay us the arrears of
salaries being owed us since we started the strike
on July1 before the strike can be called off. The
salaries should not be paid piecemeal.
"We also insist that the Federal Government
should start the implementation of the offer made
to us when we met the President some weeks ago.
"For instance, the N100bn he (Jonathan) agreed to
inject into the university system in 2013 should be
released to the universities immediately. So, we
decided that before the strike could be called off,
these two conditions and others must be met not
by promises but by real action."
The NEC members, who met behind closed doors
at the Bayero University, Kano, were said to have
reviewed the reports of the various university
congresses on the strike.
Our source, who did not want his name in print,
added that the death of a former National
President of ASUU, Prof. Festus Iyayi, was
discussed at the NEC meeting.
Iyayi, a University of Benin lecturer, died in an auto
accident involving the convoy of the Kogi State
Governor, Idris Wada and an ASUU vehicle, on his
way to Kano for the meeting.The union's
National Welfare Officer, Dr. Ngozi Ilo, was injured.
Our source said the accident "almost led to the
discontinuation of the ongoing negotiation with the
Federal Government.
He added, "Some members expressed the belief
that he (Iyayi) was killed by the government and
therefore argued that the ongoing negotiation
should be called off. Tempers rose but some
members argued that the President should be
respected because he had created the record of
being the first Nigerian leader to meet with the
leadership of ASUU on the issue of making the
nation's university system better. They also argued
that students and parents should be considered."
It was also learnt that after arguments for and
against, about 60 per cent of the members of the
NEC voted in favour of the discontinuation of the
strike while the remaining 40 per cent voted no.
But it was gathered that the NEC members
unanimously agreed that before the strike could be
called off, the leadership should ask the
government to pay the four-month salary arrears
being owed university teachers while the offer
made by the government should be implemented
immediately.
A key component of the agreement reached by
both ASUU and the Federal Government when the
President led the government team was that
government would inject N1.2tn into public
universities.
The government also agreed that the N1.2tn
would be domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria
to show its commitment to the agreement.
The money is expected to be released on quarterly
basis to the universities so that there won't be any
problem about implementing the deal.
The National Universities Commission and the
Trade Union Congress will be the joint guarantors
of the agreement while the Minister of Education
will be the implementing officer. The government
also agreed to revamp public universities by
ensuring that all the issues that always lead to
strike were dealt with once and for all.
A majority of the chapters of the union had agreed
to the suspension of the strike following the fresh
commitment the leadership of ASUU obtained from
the government.
ASUU National President, Dr. Nassir Fagge, did not
pick the several calls made to his telephone line by
one of our correspondents on Sunday to confirm
the fresh demands.
The University of Lagos chapter ASUU Chairman,
Dr. Karo Ogbinaka, and his counterpart in the
Lagos State University, Dr. Adekunle Idris, also
refused to divulge information on the outcome of
the NEC meeting.
ASUU had embarked on the strike to protest
against the failure of the government to
implement the agreement they signed in 2009.
The pact largely centered on better funding of the
universities, a declaration of a state of emergency
in tertiary education, better wages and payment
of earned allowances to lecturers.
It had suspended the NEC meeting penultimate
week following Iyayi's death.
Source: Punch Nigeria