The Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) has said it may go on a nationwide strike, except the Federal Government addresses some infrastructural and financial challenges confronting universities.
ASUU said the strike was inevitable, as most public universities were grounded in serious indebtedness.
Rising from its National Executive Council meeting yesterday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, its National President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, told reporters atthe Lagos State College of Medicine Ikeja, that the union was being pushed to the wall; hence the need to draw Nigerians and stakeholders to their plight so the union would not be blamed, if it decided to go on strike.
Ogunyemi said: ”At our NEC, we engaged members. Unfortunately, what our members are saying is that they are frustrated and running out of patience, and that if the situation becomes unbearable, they may have to take the option of strike.
“It is not that ASUU has agreed to go on strike. However, the NEC afforded us the opportunity to aggregate all outstanding issues affecting us. As we keep telling Nigerians, ASUU does not take delight in strike. We believe in consulting widely among our members before any decision is taken. So we are using this opportunity to tell the world what we are going through and seek their intervention.”
The union recalled the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government Agreement and its non-implementation, which forced it to strike in 2012 and 2013.
As a result, the Federal Government signed an MoU with the union in 2013, adding that Section 3.2 of the agreement recommended Earned Academic Allowances in nine categories, which was not upheld.
According to it, of the N30 billion Federal Government disbursed in 2013 for the Earned Academic Allowances, only N13 billion was released.
“It is important to state here that of the N30 billion disbursed, only N13 billion wwas released to partly settle claims of academic staff. The refusal to release the outstanding of N128,250,692.47 almost three years after the MoU, is a clear breach of the MoU,” it said.
Following the Needs Assessment Report by the Federal Government in 2012, it agreed to disburse N1,300,000,000 to revitalise universities nationwide.
However, it extended the report between 2013 and 2018, instead of the 2009 take off year. According to ASUU, Federal Government is to provide N200 billion in 2013, N220 billion each year between 2014 and 2018. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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At least every sensible Nigerians should appreciate what ASUU is now doing by sensitising the public and the government to their dire situation. I pray that our leaders will get this right this time around and not allow our children to come back home frustrated from disrupted academic calendars. This government will surely wane the collective support it enjoyed to snatched power from the previous administration should there be any strike now especially from ASUU. I believe the Vice President should at this stage show and justify his position to ably support and guide his principal to do all within their power to avert this looming strike that is seriously loading. No nation can be great with levity in the handling of her education sector. As for me, I will continue to hope that this administration will continue to depart from the folly of the past.
ReplyDeleteLET THE UNION EMBARK ON STRIKE TO TEACH THIS GOVT A LESSON
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