ASUU Adamant, Disregards FG’s ‘No Work, No Pay’ Threat

The threat by the Government to implement
its 'no-work, no-pay' policy has been described
as an 'obsolete familiar threat' that will not
stop the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU).
ASUU in a press statement yesterday, titled,
"ASUU: On Government's Threat of No-Work,
No-Pay", signed by its chairman, University of
Ibadan (UI) chapter, Dr Olusegun Ajiboye, said
members of the union have resolved to
pursue the strike to a logical conclusion.
The statement said ASUU members are using
the action to defend the integrity of the
university system in Nigeria and save it from
universal mockery.
Dr Ajiboye said the minimum funding
requirement for public universities this year is
N500 billion and not N100 billion, as being
bandied around by the Federal Government.
He warned that the union would resist
anything short of N500 billion.
According to Dr. Ajiboye, the Federal
Government's offer of N100 billion appears to
show that government "is just begging the
matter", because it is like a drop in the ocean.
Vowing to continue the strike in the face of
blackmail and coercion using no-work, no-pay,
Dr. Ajiboye added, "The academics remain
resolute on this struggle".
He added: "Going by the ASUU agreement of
2009 and the Memorandum of Agreement
(MoU) signed by the Federal Government in
January 2013, the minimum funding
requirement for the universities as at 2013 is
N500 billion and not N100 billion. Only the
provision of this will meet the immediate
needs of addressing the rot and decay in the
public universities. Anything short of this is
not acceptable to the union.
"Therefore, rather than engage in cheap
blackmail and unworkable threat, the
government should address the issues on the
table."