The University of Abuja branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared an indefinite strike in the school.
The union announced its decision on Thursday during a
congress held at the permanent site of the institution.
Sylvanus Ugoh, chair of UniAbuja ASUU, told TheCable that
the strike remains effective “until all the issues in contention are resolved”.
Abubakar Kari, UniAbuja student affairs dean and ex-convener
of ASUU’s national political committee, said the varsity’s branch of the union
issued a communique declaring “total and indefinite strike” over a lingering
disagreement with the UniAbuja management.
The dispute, he said, borders on four issues including
ASUU’s interest in a multi-stakeholder microfinance bank, promotion procedures
in the absence of a governing council, election for faculty deanship, and
alleged illegal appointments.
“A congress has been convened and we will address all the
lingering issues. The individuals who declared the strike did it in a haphazard
way,” he said.
“They simply snuck out a letter without allowing for any
deliberation. The university community was shocked.
“The leadership of ASUU forwarded a request to be allowed to
embark on a strike for reasons that they stated. They sent a team that spent a
week in UniAbuja and held a congress that roundly rejected the idea of a strike
if the branch is being truthful with the press.
“It was a surprise when they suddenly came reading what they
called a letter from ‘national’.
“As the days go by, we will see how it all unfolds. But the
reality is that a faction of the ASUU branch declared strike while the others
stated that they are not part of it.”
CONTROVERSIAL BANKING
VENTURE
In 2023, the UniAbuja management established a microfinance
bank to cater to the university community and graduate entrepreneurs.
Interest groups bought into the venture, including ASUU
which was said to have staked N4 million and got a representative on the bank’s
board of directors.
Kari said ASUU’s representative on the board would later
convey that the union had withdrawn its backing for the project.
ASUU’s move reportedly stalled the business after staff
members for the bank and a director had been appointed.
Kari said the management ejected ASUU from the board and
refunded the union’s money — a decision that was later rescinded after
negotiations.
“It was a surprise when they started causing commotion again
over an issue that had been resolved,” the ASUU ex-convener added.
PROMOTIONS, ‘ILLEGAL
APPOINMENTS’
In 2023, the National Universities Commission (NUC)
dissolved the governing councils of federal universities following a
presidential directive.
This has stalled decision-making and caused these
institutions to seek federal approval for functions usually sanctioned by the
councils.
Kari said many slots for deanship across UniAbuja’s
faculties became vacant and needed the council to oversee elections into them.
“The vice-chancellor
(VC) released a timetable for the election last month and about four of the
faculties have already elected their deans. The faculty of communications did
theirs yesterday. But ASUU says it is dissatisfied with the process. And we
followed the law,” he stated.
“They singled out UniAbuja and rejected the idea of
promotions being done without council oversight. Since the dissolution of the
council, the minister of education caused a letter to be sent to universities.
“It required that any function meant for the councils should
be directed to him for approval. Because of that, so many decisions were made,
including the promotion of the branch chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary of
ASUU in UniAbuja.
“The branch chair was made an associate professor. The
vice-chair and secretary were made professors through ministerial appointment.
These happened in January but they all came back to claim the promotions
generally were not done in order.”
Kari said UniAbuja created the faculties of pharmacy,
communications, environmental sciences, and nursing & allied sciences, two
years ago.
The VC obtained approval from head of service, a waiver from
the federal character commission, and factored it into the budget, he added.
“All those who were recruited were recommended by
departments and faculties, yet ASUU raised issues with the procedure. If there
is any blame to go round, ASUU should be blaming the government for not
reconstituting the councils.
“These people have other motives but are only listing these
four out of mischief.”
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