Strike continues, says ASUU

University teachers said yesterday that their
strike will go on — 89 days after it began. This is in spite of the intervention by Vice
President Namadi Sambo in bringing the lecturers
back to the negotiation table. The teachers are seeking proper funding of
education and the payment of their N87 billion
earned allowances. These are part of the 2009 agreement between
the teachers and the government. The
government has offered N30 billion for the
earned allowances and made available
N100billion for projects on the campuses. The
lecturers rejected the offer. The strike has been on since July 1. The latest position of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), the umbrella association of
the teachers to go on with the strike, was made
known yesterday by University of Lagos
(UNILAG) chapter Chairman Dr. Karo Ogbinika, in a
statement. According to him, ASUU last month pulled out of
the negotiation with the Federal Government,
which was represented by Benue State Governor
Gabriel Suswam, based on the government’s
insincerity and non-commitment. He said the Presidency intervened, calling for
another round of meetings with Vice President
Namadi Sambo last week which, according to
ASUU, also ended in a stalemate. The union said it was disappointed because it
hoped the Presidency’s intervention would
dampen the tension the strike had generated;
but, rather, the government was re-echoing the
same stance by Suswam, which was why ASUU
withdrew from the negotiation. ASUU said: “After the meeting on September 19
with the Vice-President, it is clear that the Federal
Government is merely paying lip service to
education in Nigeria and deceiving the public on
its commitment to its transformation agenda. “The Nigerian people should not be deceived.
How can there be a meaningful transformation
when the education sector is neglected and
gradually taken over by private entrepreneurs,
including government functionaries who are
busy bulding private universities with stolen funds in and outside Nigeria. Can these
universities be truly called private? “ASUU is assuring Nigerians that it will not back
out in its struggle to ensure that the government
is made to do what is right in the education
sector. This is a commitment that all members of
the union have vowed to pursue to its logical
conclusion.” The union said it had reported back to its various
zones many of which still insisted the strike must
continue.” Hundreds of students of Bayero University, Kano
(BUK) yesterday gave the Federal Government a
one week ultimatum to meet all the demands of
ASUU or face the wrath of students. The students, who staged a peaceful protest,
urged the Federal Government to respect and
implement the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement. Addressing the protesters at the BUK gate, the
university’s Students Union President, Sani
Ibrahim, said they were forced to stage the
protest, “because we are tired of staying at
home”. “Our mates in other countries are in
school; why should the case of Nigerian students be different?” “As part of the struggle to fight for our right is
being pursued, I will like to salute our students
for their patience while receiving the negative
consequences of bad governance. We believe
that the delay in resuming lectures in our
universities is not only lamentable but also devastating. We believe even more strongly that
now is the time to let our leaders know that
enough is enough and we shall wake up and say
‘no’ to injustice being meted out to Nigerian
students. “We also call on the government to review the
annual budget for the education sector from
eight per cent to 26 per cent, so as to ensure
adequate rehabilitation of infrastructure in our
universities, including hostels, laboratories,
potable water and constant supply of electricity. “We are calling on ASUU to give government
more opportunity to dialogue so as to quickly
resolve the differences in the best interest of
Nigerian students. We are giving ASUU and the
Federal Government one week to sort things out
and resume lectures; otherwise Nigerian students will look for other alternatives to fight for our
right. Education is our right and no one should
take it away from us,” Ibrahim noted. But for the intervention of the police, who
pleaded with the protesting students, they would
have taken to the streets. ASUU members at the Adekunle Ajasin
University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) insisted
yesterday that they would not return to work,
until the Federal Government resolves the issues. This was contrary to a report that the
management was already consulting with the
striking lecturers on the need to call back the
students by end of this month. The union urged Vice-Chancellor Prof. Femi
Mimiko to toe the path of rule of law and refrain
from any desperate act of self-help in his attempt
to reopen the university. In a statement by their counsel, Mr. Charles
Titiloye, the union noted with great concern the
threat by the vice-chancellor to re-open the
University for academic activities, despite of the
strike. The union warned that it would not allow
contract lecturers or newly employed graduate
fellows to be used to resume teaching in the
school.