•Tinubu
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday threatened to shut down academic activities in public universities across the country over non-substantial implementation of the 2009 agreement with the Federal Government, several months after it suspended the last strike.
ASUU said it is putting the public on notice of a possible strike in the next two weeks, noting that the union has been sensitising the Nigerian people in the past two months so that they will not be surprised if it resorts to strike as the last resort, reports Daily Independent.
The union lamented that successive governments had refused to renegotiate the federal government and ASUU 2009 agreement, as well as provide funds for the revitalisation of public universities in the country, among other selfless demands.
Addressing a press conference, shortly after a special congress involving parents, students and lecturers at the union’s secretariat in Port Harcourt yesterday, the Chairperson, ASUU, University of Port Harcourt, Comrade Uzomma Darlington Chima, expressed worry that the government had only paid lip service to the issues raised by the public tertiary institutions’ lecturers.
Chima said, “It is sad to note that over twenty months after the suspension of the last strike, the federal government has only paid lip-service towards addressing those core issues that led to the strike ab initio and others that emanated from the strike.
“The need for better remuneration for our members cannot be overemphasised. It may sound incredible to note that our conditions of service have not been reviewed since the past 15 years despite the galloping inflation and untold hardship that successive governments have caused the critical mass of the Nigerian citizenry.
“We are calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the federal government led by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to avoid another crisis that may disrupt industrial harmony and academic activities on our campuses.
“We are open to dialogue and negotiation towards the resolution of the pending issues that are threatening the peace and harmony in our public universities.”
The union also lamented that over N20 million deducted from salaries of lecturers at the University of Port Harcourt by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had not been remitted into the account of the union’s cooperative society, adding that the anomaly had continued unabated. Chima further stressed about 30 to 40 months promotion arrears of 325 professors were currently being withheld.
“Payments of promotion arrears, especially to our members promoted to the professorial cadre in the last five months. It is pertinent to note that for the University of Port Harcourt alone, we have 325 academic staff that are owed some of them up to 30 to 40 months arrears, that issue has not been addressed.”
While fielding questions from journalists, the Chairman of the Federal University of Lokoja (FUL), ASUU branch in Lokoja, Kogi State, Dr. Joshua Silas, lamented the actions of the government which could not constitute governing councils for months.
While calling on the government to do the needful to avert the impending strike, he urged parents, well meaning Nigerians and the general public to prevail on the government to honour the agreement it freely entered into with the union since 2009.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Emmanuel Alayande University of Education (EAUE) chapter called on President Bola Tinubu to rescue the Nigerian universities system which it says is bleeding to death.
The ASUU Chairman of UAUE, Dr. Micheal Bamidele Ojo, stated this while speaking with the press on the pitiable situations in Nigerian public university education and the pathetic conditions of services which put lecturers in precarious states, stressing that of the ways to address the bleeding was for the president to rise up and sign a renegotiated agreements with the union.
He noted that “salary awards are no substitutes for a negotiated agreement. Each negotiated agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a comprehensive package that captures not just salary component but also a gamut of requirements for bench-marking a competitive university system designed for addressing the developmental challenges of Nigeria.
“ASUU’s demand for negotiated salary and other conditions of service is anchored on the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention No. 98 which underscores the principle of collective bargaining. The last FGN/ ASUU agreement was in 2009.”
Dr. Ojo, who also led members of UAUED congress to street protest, accused the Federal Government of unwillingness to decisively address the outstanding issues with the union.
The union called “on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to immediately set in motion the process that will lead to the review and signing of the Nimi Briggs-led renegotiated draft agreement as a mark of goodwill and assured hope for Nigeria’s public universities.”
