After 10 unsuccessful meetings with the Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government was not ready to end the 8-week-old strike, lamenting that government displayed dishonesty and lack of integrity during negotiations.
At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU’s President, Dr. Isa Faggae, claimed that government had declared it would not implement the agreed injection of funds to revitalise the public universities, but was only making a dubious statement of supporting some universities with N100 billion.
He said: “Government had also declared that it will not pay university academics their earned allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013. Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.”
Narrating the union’s experience at the last meeting with the Government held on Monday, Faggae said: ASUU was shocked by the level of deceit, dishonesty, and lack of integrity displayed by the Government. Never in the history of ASUU-Government relations have we, as a union, ever experienced the kind of volte-face exhibited by Government. At one stage in the interaction, the Secretary to the Government Federation ridiculed the agreement, the MoU and the Needs Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of Education to “go and give them N400 billion,” at which members of the government scornfully laughed.”
He argued that the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led Implementation Committee was being used as smokescreen to “deceive ASUU, Nigerian students and their parents, as well as other unsuspecting members of the public on the purportedly released N100 billion for the implementation of the Needs Assessment Report.
First, he said, government plans to divert the regular yearly allocations to universities by Tertiary Education Trust, TETFund, to make at least 70% of the N100 billion. This is unacceptable to ASUU. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, since the idea of revitalization took full cognizance of the intervention role TETFund ab-initio.
“Again, contrary to subsisting operational procedures, about 75% of the money meant for revitalizing universities would not be released to them as the Suswam Committee plans to hand over construction of the hostel projects to the Federal Ministry of Education and/or the National Universities Commission, for implementation. This is illegal; neither the ministry nor NUC is backed by laws of Nigerian Public Universities to divert monies meant for the development of these institutions into centrally executed projects.”
Dr. Faggae questioned the committee’s motives for proposing to commit N1.6 million to a bed space, instead of N200, 000 to N400, 000, saying, “We see a continuation of outrageous contract regimes in the plan to centrally coordinate the construction of student hostels as done in the case of the 12 newly established Federal Universities with TETFund resources. The NUC has transmuted itself into a “Tenders’ board” which awarded contracts for the construction of 560 bed spaces hostel for each university at a whooping sum of 1.2 bn. This contract sum translates into N2.143 million per bed space.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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This is really a big issue and this is quite disgusting that the govt. is not paying any attentions towards the same. That is why the circumstances have become severe.
ReplyDeleteFG is really nonchallant.
DeleteFG is really nonchallant.
DeleteFederal government is not willing to meet d demands of ASUU. Dey wil prefer to pay d money into a swiz account n send dier kids abroad to study. Dis country n d leaders are rily crazy n confuse
ReplyDeleteO Allah judge between us and those bad leaders' we are having in this country.
ReplyDeleteThank God av startd Gala distribution business....Lmao
ReplyDelete...... Yes oooo. I just started frying Akara yesterday #lol#
DeleteASUU in the hand of a PhD holder- ASUU product.
ReplyDeleteLet's hear from the government side.
ReplyDeleteI thought I heard the President GEJ was Personally handling this!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they (whoever) disbursed the funds under independent auditors. And Woe!!! betide who ever fraudulently capitalises. No one is going to win here, as the Government of today were trained by the Universities they are trying to destroy. It is a case of two elephants fighting. Mr president sort it out o. Our children are not your grass.-Civil Yoruba Engr SJ
Dapo Ajiboye from Jos,
ReplyDeletePDP! PDP!! PDP!!! Pin-Di-Pin. Who is the head of this government. He is a good man. His Luck is good for all of us. Who voted for him? Are you not the ones. If the body is good and the head is rotten, what will eventually befall the body.
Am telling you now nothing good can come from any body playing with education. What ever fringe success being applauded or being enjoted by few ones now will collapse on their head soon as the foundation is not there-education.
Where did Goodnot-lucky come from, from the abyss. Any president that does not want us to abuse him should behave well. If a father can not protect his family he is Good for nothing.
The fool will still vote for him in 2015.
CORRUPTION & GREED IS THE REASON WHY THIS COUNTRY IS NOT PROGRESSING. NIGERIANS ARE EXTREMELY GREEDY.
ReplyDeletePlease cant we scrape out this amount of money paid to leaders so we know that whosoever is vying for presidecy knows he has nothing to GAIN and he is taking position because he has ideas to move this country forward. At end of his tenure the country can decide what to give him.
ReplyDeleteI think is high time women took up power because men have shown us most are crooked,liars,untrustworthy. If a small boy steals 5naira they flog living devil out of him but father wil also steal more than 5naira, lie dwindle.
ReplyDelete