Hope4all: ASUU Strikes New deal with FG

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities have
given the Federal Government certain conditions to be met
before the union could call off its four-month old strike.
Part of this condition is that all federal parastatals in charge
of fund, labour, and education must sign the agreement
purportedly reached between its leadership and the Federal
Government on Tuesday.
A prominent member of the union, who craved anonymity
because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the
union, told Saturday PUNCH that doing this would give the
association the confidence that "the Federal Government
knows what it is doing when it signed the agreement."
He said, "I must tell you that our mandate remains. The
only mandate we have is that 2009 agreement must be met.
We have not reached any agreement with the Federal
Government.
"Since the Federal Government wants to be releasing
N220bn every year for five years, then all monetary and
regulatory agencies must sign. The Central Bank of
Nigeria, Ministries of Finance and Labour, National
Assembly, Office of the Presidency, National Universities
Commission, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Trade Union
Congress and our umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour
Congress, must sign with consequences stated.
"The reason we will ensure this is that we don't want
argument tomorrow that the agreement was entered in error
or that they don't know the implication of signing the
agreement. If possible, documents that will provide for
automatic deduction of the agreed money at a particular/
agreed date must be provided."
The leadership of the union had engaged in a 13-hour
marathon meeting with government delegation led by
President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja between Monday and
Tuesday.
Though it was generally perceived that both ASUU and the
Federal Government achieved breakthrough in negotiation
for the first time after the lengthy meeting with the
President, Saturday PUNCH learnt that the lecturers might
not be in a hurry to go back to class.
Another source close to ASUU who was also part of the
marathon meeting with the President in Abuja, said there
was nothing new in what the President promised members
of the union.
According to him, government had always failed in
implementing agreements reached with ASUU. He said,
"Truly the President sat down for more than 13 hours with
us. He told us that we were not leaving the venue until the
issues were resolved. The Federal Government also
promised to inject funds into the system, but a promissory
note is not enough.
"Where would the money come from? There is no
assurance that government will provide money especially
with the mop-up policy in place that ensures that unspent
money is refunded to government's coffers at the end of
every year.''
Asked when the lecturers would call off the strike, he said,
"I doubt if the strike is ending soon. The problem is with
the Finance Minister. Where is government getting N1trn
from? A government that could not implement agreement
between 2009 and 2013, what is the guarantee that they
would honour this agreement.
"It is all politics. We are still awaiting directives from our
branches. We have told them the outcome of the meeting
with the President but we are waiting for them to tell us
what they think of government's proposal.
"Imagine the Minister of Education has travelled out of the
country. He was appointed Vice President for UNESCO
General Assembly. How can he travel out of the country
without resolving the crisis in the education sector?''
He said the Federal Government should spend the trillions
of dollars in its Sovereign Wealth Fund to finance university
education and improve infrastructure in the country.
A key component of the agreement reached by both ASUU
and the Federal Government was that government would
inject N1.1trn into public universities in the next five years.
Government is expected to inject N220bn yearly into the
public university sector beginning from 2014. But
government said it could only release N100bn this year,
noting that the amount had already been processed.
The Federal Government also indicated that the N1.1trn
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 funding 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.
Government, according to sources at the meeting, also
agreed to revamp public universities by ensuring that all the
issues that always lead to strike are dealt with once and for
all.
Asked to confirm if lecturers were planning to call off their
strike, ASUU Chairman, University of Calabar branch, Dr.
James Okpiliya, said the local chapter was yet to get formal
briefing on the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.
He, however, said the union would make its position known
to the press on the President's offer after the end of a
meeting scheduled for mid-night Thursday.
Also, Chairman of ASUU in Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Prof. Adegbola Akinola, said that members must be
properly briefed on the resolution between the Federal
Government and representatives of ASUU in the last
marathon meeting.
He said the only condition that could make its members
accept any offer would be the provision of necessary
documents.
He said, "The NEC meeting may not hold now. It is the
local congress that is expected to hold first which is either
tomorrow or Monday.
"Our members are not yet briefed about the details, so it is
when we meet that we will know the details and then discuss
whether what we got is sufficient enough to justify our
action or demand.
"I can't really pre-empt the mind of other members. But if
we are to accept any offer, there must be document to back
that up. We need to obtain documents on that. Maybe if
there is a document, people may look at it critically."
However, the Federal Government said it would include the
N1.1trn promised ASUU in the education budget starting
from next year. It also said it was waiting for the union to
know the next step to take.
The Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of
Education, Mr. Olu Lipide, told one of our correspondents
on Thursday that government was waiting for ASUU to take
the necessary steps.
Meanwhile, the Dean of Social Sciences, University of
Lagos, Prof. Omololu Soyombo, has said that the general
ASUU body must agree before the strike could be called
off.
He said, "It is difficult to believe the President but we give
him the benefit of doubt. We believe that the President is
noble, the ASUU president promised to give him a
feedback. If this had been done earlier, the strike wouldn't
have extended for so long."
Corroborating his view, the Chairman, Lagos State
University, ASUU, Dr. Jamiu Oluwatoki said, "It won't be
long again. By next week there should be a NEC meeting
and subsequently the congress meetings before the president
can call off the strike."
Sources: Punch