The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Biodun Ogunyemi while officially announcing the suspension of the strike yesterday, disclosed the various agreements reached with the Federal Government that led to the suspension of the over three (3) months strike action.
This was contained in a Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed by ASUU and the Federal Government on Thursday. Highlights of the Memorandum of Action include the following;
- In addition to the N20 billion for 2018, the sum of N25 billion only would be released in April/May 2019, after which government would resume full implementation of the MoU of 2013.
- Part-payment of the outstanding arrears of the earned academic allowances; defraying the balance up to 2018 in 4 tranches within 36 months; and mainstreaming further payments of EAA into the annual budgets beginning from 2019 budget.
- PICA verification and the release of the arrears of salary shortfall at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, not later than 15th February 2019.
- Strengthening the Consultative Committee on State-owned Universities (CCSOU), inaugurated on Monday, 28th January, 2019 to look into the issues of proliferation, underfunding and governance to consistently deliver on its mandate.
- Payment of the outstanding EAA arrears of all eligible staff in the University of Ilorin, especially the loyal ASUU members whose appointments were illegally terminated by today, 7th February, 2019.
- Acknowledgment and appreciation of Government for facilitating the release of the final letter of approval for the granting of an operational license to NUPEMCO.
- Visitation to all Federal Universities would commence tentatively by 11th March 2019.
- Provision of documented guidelines on procedures and roles of parties in the process of renegotiating FGN-ASUU Agreement of 2009 which would commence not later than 18th February 2019 and end by Friday 29th March 2019.
The ASUU president further stated that should Government fail to fulfill its part of the agreement as reflected in this 2019 Memorandum of Action, ASUU shall resume its suspended strike action as the Union deems necessary.
The University of Ibadan has announced the resumption date for academic activities following the suspension of a three-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The university management in a statement signed by the Vice Chancellor, Idowu Olayinka announced February 14, as resumption date for its students.
However, academic activities will resume officially on Feb. 18th.
The statement reads: “Following the suspension of the strike action embarked upon by the ASUU, we wish to advise our students to plan to return to the university as from Thursday, 14th February 2019.
“This would enable those whose voting centres are located within the university to exercise their civic responsibilities on election days.
“On the issue of resumption day for academic activities as directed by the ASUU President, the University of Ibadan management have scheduled to re-commence on Monday, February 18, 2019.
“A revised Academic Calendar for the rest of the 2017/2018 session is being drawn up and will be circulated shortly.
“We wish all those that will be traveling from far and near to Ibadan safe trips.”
President Muhammadu Buhari today received the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) led by President Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan and other Members of the Executive Committee of the Association at the State House, Abuja.
Reports reaching us has it that a sum of One hundred and fifty million naira (N150,000,000) was doled out to the leadership of NANS during this visit as it is believed that their job is to hold protests against ASUU and other striking units instead of holding the govt accountable.
Anyway, if you are still wondering why the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has been quiet all these while, the NANS president promised President Buhari 20million vote from Nigerian students. He was quoted to have said ASUU is being hypocritical and that Buhari is a wonderful Man!
#NANS President Promised #Buhari 20million Votes From Nigerian Students. Isn't it ironic that the same students who have been at home for about two months because of #ASUUStrike are these same ones doing this? #ColossusGists #ASUU #NigeriaEducation pic.twitter.com/kbi04WLEiX— ColossusGists (@ColossusGists) January 4, 2019
Students are on strike and NANS president is promising buhari 20 million votes. Graduates, working class, youth corpers, fathers, mothers are shouting #EndAsuuStrike, FG & ASUU are always walking out of each other, with no solutions yet, only for National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) members, to go and be praising Buhari & insulting ASUU.
The President of NANS says ASUU is being economical with the truth, indirectly meaning that they have taken a side.
photos of the meeting....
photos of the meeting....
See Some Nigerians Reactions as expected ....
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it may not honour further calls by the federal government for a meeting on the way forward over the current strike by its members.
The union’s National President, Biodun Ogunyemi, said this on the sideline of a news conference on the update of the union’s struggle to salvage the country’s public universities from deterioration on Sunday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the union had on November 4 embarked on what it described as a ‘total, comprehensive and indefinite strike’.
Members of the union are protesting the non-implementation of agreements entered into with the federal government in 2009 and 2017, as well as funding and improved welfare for members, among other issues.
According to Mr Ogunyemi, to ensure that the agreements were implemented, the union had held a series of consultative meetings with the government and written series of letters with little or nothing to the effect.
He noted that it was against this backdrop that union resumed strike on November 4.
“Since the commencement of this strike, we have had six meetings with agents of the federal government, with no clear commitment from government to resolving the issues we presented.
“Government appears to have adopted ‘keep them talking’ strategy while deceiving the public that progress was being made and that partial agreements had been reached between union and government.
“We want to say that government has continually and falsely raised the hopes of the Nigerian public on the state of discussion with our union and we may not be interested in holding further dialogue with them until we see signs of commitment and sincerity in addressing the issues before them.
“Our expectation from a very responsive and sincere position is that by now, all outstanding issues would have been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.
“Unfortunately, the government is yet to show commitment and sincerity in addressing these problems,” he said.
According to the don, on the renegotiation of Federal Government/ASUU agreement, there are still unresolved issues about the leadership of the government team.
“We have strong reasons to believe that the continuation of Dr Wale Babalakin as the head of the renegotiation with ASUU will not yield good fruit,” he said.
Mr Ogunyemi said his union had taken up its current project as a lifetime, adding that this was why dating back to the 1980s, the union had remained consistent on what was of concern to it.
“If we miss education, we miss development as we will end up being enslaved the second time.
“What is happening in this country now is that people are privatizing everything, including education and before we know it, what happened to our primary and secondary education will happen.
“And these are some of the things we are supposed to be tracking and engage in this society if we want to make the change that we need.
“Our conviction is the reason behind the prolonged strike and our members have the conviction that until we get education right, Nigeria will never get it right.
“Insurgency will increase, banditry, poverty, kidnapping, misery and other societal ills will continue.
“Let me also state clearly too that our strike has nothing to do with politics or election, as is being speculated in some sectors of the society.
“We have never thought of aborting any election. We do not want to create a problem for this country but let the government do the right thing,” he said.
Mr Ogunyemi said that the situation might have to rise to the point where Nigerians would have to tell the government what to do with the country’s education system.
He said the union appreciated the understanding of the Nigerian students, their parents, among whom were many ASUU members and other people of goodwill since the resumption of the avoidable strike.
“ASUU does not take your sacrifice for granted. With your continued support and sacrifice, we can make the Nigerian ruling class come to accept the centrality of university education in improving the human condition.
“Qualitative and public-funded education is not an option; it is inevitable if Nigeria ever wishes to banish poverty, ignorance, squalor, insecurity, disease and corruption.
NAN
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given conditions upon which the current industrial action will be suspended.
The president of the union, Abiodun Ogunyemi, stated the conditions in an interview on Sunday night with COLOSSUS GISTS.
Mr Ogunyemi said it was unfortunate that Nigerian leaders
“like to move in circles without resolving the challenges rocking the system”.
“Some of these conditions, ASUU said, include the full implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) the two parties willingly signed in October 2017,” he said.
“So the MoA must be implemented fully before we can even talk of suspension of the strike. If they implement the outstanding issues in the MoA fully and change the leadership of the negotiating team, then we can go back to the negotiation,” Mr Ogunyemi said.
The purpose of the meeting slated for 5 p.m. is to find a lasting solution to the ongoing strike.
The union embarked on strike three weeks ago over the poor funding of Nigerian universities, an alleged plan by the federal government to increase students’ fees and introduce an education bank, as well as non-implementation of previous agreements.
According to Mr Ogunyemi, the union’s position is aimed at repositioning the nation’s universities for global relevance.
“As they (schools) currently stand, they can neither attract competent foreign lecturers or foreign students who could add to their global rating.
“Our prayer is that the meeting should be productive, because contrary to the people’s belief, we don’t also enjoy embarking on strike. It affects us as individuals as it affects the nation.
“Unfortunately, that is the language the government understands. Each time ASUU goes on strike our work is disrupted. But what work are we doing under unfavorable conditions?” Mr Ogunyemi said.
Meanwhile, Members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on November 19 embarked on a protest to demand increased funding for education.
The protest was titled “Save education rally”.
The president of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Danielson Akpan, said the dwindling allocation of funding to the sector is saddening.
“The funding keeps dropping every year,” Mr Akpan said.
The head of the International Relations department at the NLC, Uche Ekwe, also said much attention is not given to the education sector.
According to him, the major reason for the ongoing ASUU strike is poor funding of the sector.
Indications show that the ASUU strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will still continue for a while at the meeting, held yesterday, with the Federal Government ended in a deadlock. No compromise or decision was reached after the meeting to end the ASUU Strike, which began at 3 p.m and ended at 8:15 p.m on Tuesday. The meeting will continue next week.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, however, stated that government’s discussion with ASUU will continue next week. According to Ngige the delay in calling ASUU for a discussion was caused by the minimum wage negotiation.
He appealed to ASUU to put the interest of students, who are at the receiving end into consideration.
ASUU president, Biodun Ogunyemi, on the other hand, said the union have tendered its request at the meeting and also confirmed that the ASUU Strike meeting has been adjourned till next week.
According to him, no date has been fixed but “we will communicate the date to you tomorrow,” he told newsmen.
He said the union was forced to embark on the strike after its plea for the implementation of the 2009 agreement fell on deaf ears.
Mr Ogunyemi earlier said the government had promised to take action on issues raised in the last MOU signed by the two parties but “it does appear that federal government is dribbling the union.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has stated that the union is ready to negotiate with the government toward ending its one-week old industrial action. This was disclosed by the President of the union Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, who was a guest on TVC News Breakfast show on Tuesday. He frowned at the attitude of the FG towards the demands of the lecturers.
According to him, the letters sent to the Federal Government through the ministries of education and Labour since November 5th notifying them of the strike is yet to be replied.
“We wrote to inform the ministries that we had resumed our strike. We told them that we had resumed the strike we suspended in Sept. 2017 because government failed to implement agreements we signed. “The ministries signed to acknowledge receipt of the copies we gave them, but none has written a reply to us,” he said.
Ogunyemi further stated that it is quite surprising that observed that the federal government, which had consistently allocated seven percent to education in the last two years, suddenly woke up from slumber and announced a state of emergency in the education sector and promised to allocate 15 percent of its budget to the sector. He said that the union finds this unbelievable and deceitful. “We feel that the `sudden’ promise has more to do with the fact that we are in an election year,” he emphasized.
He alleged that the ruling class in Nigeria had no concern for the education of the poor.
BREAKING NEWS - The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has commenced a nationwide industrial action today Monday, 5th November 2018 following the inability of the Federal Government to respond to its demands.
Specifically, the union accused the government of not implementing the Memorandum of Action signed with it, declaring that the strike would be total as all federal and state varsities would join the strike.
The union made the announcement after their National Executive Council meeting held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State on Sunday night.
Briefing journalists after the NEC meeting, the National President of the ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi said all entreaties made to the Federal Government to honour the agreement with the union fell on deaf ears and they had no other alternative but to begin the strike action.
He said,
“Having waited patiently for action and meaningful negotiation with reasonable men using the principle of collective bargaining that ASUU at its NEC meeting of 3rd and 4th November 2018 at the FUTA, resolved to resume the nationwide strike action it suspended in September 2017 with immediate effect.
“This strike will be total, comprehensive and indefinite. Our members shall withdraw their services until the government fully implements all outstanding issues as contained in the MOA of 2017, and concludes the renegotiation of the 2009 agreements.
“We have today been subjected to 20 years of continued re-colonization under alleged democracy in which all the ruling class has been regrouping among themselves in their various factions they called political parties.”
Ogunyemi reportedly said that the government was not interested in public universities as the children of the top politicians and rich men in the society patronize private universities at the detriment of public institutions.
Students of LAUTECH are expected back in school to continue their academic activities as the issues surrounding the industrial strike have been resolved.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH Ogbomoso has suspended its industrial action.
Lectures will commence on Monday 23rd October 2017.
The decision to put the strike on hold was reached at the congress held today at the Mani campus of the institution in Ogbomoso.
Details of the meeting are still scanty as at the moment of writing this report but it was learnt that they lecturers agreed to return back to class base on assurance from the management and the governing council that their salary arrears and other issues that led to the strike will be resolved.
It would be recalled that the lecturers embarked on the industrial action in April shortly after the end of first semester examination.
The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities on Monday, suspended its one month, six days strike and has however said its battle with government is far from over.
TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF UNIVERSITIES HELD IN RESPECT OF THE NATIONWIDE STRIKE ACTION AT NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS HEADQUARTERS, PASCAL BAFYAU HOUSE, ABUJA ON MONDAY, 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2017
PROTOCOLS
Compatriots of the Press,
As part of the avowed commitment of our Union, ASUU, to building a virile Nigerian state, we address Nigerians through you once again on matters that are critical to the stability, security and development of our nation, particularly on the place of education and the constant affront against it by successive governments in Nigeria. Life has almost lost meaning to the average Nigerian today.
Stories of suicide, insurrection and brigandage are commonplace with the degradation of educational and other institutional frameworks for apprehending the perversion of our cherished values. Sadly, our leaders live in affluence while the people wallow in absolute poverty, which suggests callousness and indifference to the plight of the rest of Nigerians, and generates insecurity and violent conflict.
The place of education in the life and development of any country is generally acknowledged. Any nation that neglects education does so to its peril. Unfortunately, our country has chosen to follow this perilous path, over the years. The Academic Staff Union of Universities, our Union, has consistently called the attention of our country to, and challenged government after government on, the need to give education a pride of place in driving national development.
While these struggles have yielded some substantive fruits, it is sad to note that the apathy and subterfuge of successive governments have resulted in incremental regrettable loss of progress and growth in the education sector, manifesting particularly in the deterioration and decay of the university system, with their negative consequences for the Nigerian society.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The 2001 FGN/ASUU Agreement came to be, after a tortuous journey spanning years of protests, national strikes and resilient struggles by the Union, supported by the Nigerian people. The 2001 Agreement was due for review in 2004. It, however, took Government two years and an ASUU strike to begin the review in 2006, and an additional two years of unwarranted provocation of academics due to needless foot-dragging and insincerity on the part of Government.
In the course of renegotiation of the 2001 FGN/ASUU Agreement, the FGN/ASUU Committee derived its direction from the terms of reference listed by the then Minister of Education and agreed that the essence of the re-negotiation was:
(i) To reverse the decay in the university system, in order to reposition it for greater responsibilities in national development;
(ii) To reverse the brain drain, not only by enhancing the remuneration of academic staff, but also by disengaging them from the encumbrances of a unified civil service structure;
(iii) To restore Nigerian universities, through immediate, massive and sustained financial intervention; and
(iv) To ensure genuine university autonomy and academic freedom.
The Negotiating Teams searched for, and arrived at minimal conditions for reversing the decay in the University System. Although the re-negotiation was completed in 2008, it took the government over a year to sign the Agreement – in 2009.
The failure of the Governments to implement substantial parts of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement led to series of warning strikes and, ultimately, a total, comprehensive and indefinite strike action in 2011/2012. These actions forced the government to conduct a nationwide assessment of the needs for addressing the rot and decay in our public universities. The Needs Assessment Report, released in July 2012, called for immediate and comprehensive intervention and revitalization of the universities. Unfortunately, although the government approved this report, it did not make any effort to address the issues raised. The failure of series of consultations, dialogues and interventions by well-meaning Nigerians to get government to do the right thing, once again, compelled our Union to embark on another strike action in 2013. The resolution of that strike action culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government on 11th December, 2013. The goal of the MoU is to reinforce the compelling need to implement the provisions of the extant Agreements/MoU on the increased funding of public universities.
Major items of the 2013 MoU include:
1) Fund for revitalization of the university system, amounting to N1.3 trillion in 6 years, based on yearly release of N220 billion, starting with N200 billion in 2013.
2) A dedicated revitalization account to be opened by FGN with CBN to warehouse the fund.
3) A central Monitoring Committee to monitor the implementation of the revitalization of the universities.
4) Payment of outstanding balance of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) after verification of the level of payment made from the initial of N30 billion.
5) Engagement of the services of public universities in special consultancy as a way of boosting IGR of the universities.
It is true that Government raised the hope of Nigerians on the promise of addressing the rot and decay in Nigerian public universities with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding and release of the initial sum of N200 billion. However, and unfortunate for Nigeria, the hope has since been dashed. Indeed, the current government has revealed that the said N200bn was taken from the TETFund intervention account.
This, no doubt, is a case of robbing Peter to pay Peter. The Needs Assessment Intervention Funds were to be raised from other sources to complement the efforts of TETFund, not to undermine an agency which is a product of ASUU struggles. TETFund was not, and is not, meant to be a “cash cow” for the political class and our Union will continue to challenge any attempt to derail it from its original mandate.
There is always a question – Why must ASUU adopt the strike option considering its impact on the quality of education which the Union wants to raise? The answer to this is simple. ASUU’s resolve to forge a hitch-free academic calendar has been proven by the utmost restraint which it usually showed before embarking on strike action.
ASUU as a national body did not embark on any strike between December 2013 and November 2016. ASUU’s strikes are forced on it by the tendency of the Federal and State Governments to renege on the agreements freely entered into by them. Successive Governments have demonstrated a strong antagonism to the patriotic goals underlying ASUU’s agitations.
ISSUES IN THE CURRENT DISPUTE
Comrades and compatriots, the current strike has been necessitated by the non-implementation of the 2009 Agreement, 2013 MoU and the 2016 resolutions reached in the course of ASUU’s talks with representatives of the Federal Government under the chairmanship of the Senate President. Specifically, the issues in dispute are:
1. Funding for the Revitalization of Public Universities
2. Earned Academic Allowances (EAA)
3. Registration of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO) and Pension Matters.
4. Universities Staff Schools
5. Fractionalization and Non-Payment of Salaries
6. Exemption of the University System from TSA
7. Poor funding and the proliferation of State Universities
With the commencement of the ongoing action on 12th August, 2017, we have held series of meetings and deliberations with the representatives of the Federal Government and arrived at a number of resolutions. These are captured in a Memorandum of Action (MoA) signed today, 18th September, 2017. For the avoidance of doubt, the new MoA is action-oriented because each item on the list has a time-line attached.
We want to state, unequivocally, that the continuous breach of trust by successive governments is the root cause of the continuing actions undertaken by our Union. The correct dictum is “Pacta sum servanda” (All agreements must be respected). The current resolutions, like every resolution, in a civil engagement, are based on mutual trust.
It is our ardent hope that our trust will not be yet again misplaced. Consistent with the said prompt response, we expect that this government will abide strictly by all the timelines set out in the current resolutions. Our union deems it necessary to give a precautionary advice: should government unilaterally vary the agreement(s) it has signed with our union, we should not be held responsible for the consequences.
STATE OF THE NATION
Having addressed the matter of the strike action, it is crucial that we address even a more fundamental issue; the state of the Nigerian nation. The industrial action, as well as the entire university system, which it seeks to protect have meaning within the context of the state of the nation. Whatever happens to the nation ultimately impacts the university system.
The current sorry situation of the country, therefore, is a matter of grave concern for ASUU. From education to the economy, from the society to national security, and to the livelihood opportunities, the situation is worrisome. The government has announced with glee the movement away from recession, but to the ordinary Nigerian citizen the reality is different. Neither poverty nor hunger nor general suffering has reduced in level or intensity in our country.
The general unrest among the labour Unions is a reflection of the deplorable condition under which the Nigerian worker operates, just as the growing incidence of suicide is an indication of the level of frustration and hopelessness of the average Nigerian citizen. There are no advances in policies that can substantially provide the welfare needs – employment, health, education, etc – of Nigerians outside the ruling class.
All in all, the mounting feeling of insecurity in the country is now palpable. A clear indication of the level of insecurity is the massive security personnel, with which our leaders and the elites surround themselves, leaving the masses unprotected, at the mercy of the violent hoodlums who have overrun the country. The plague of armed robbery, kidnapping, and other forms of criminality are enough threat to the peace of any polity.
However, these violent acts are treated as minor problems in Nigeria, even when they are compounded by the rising tide of ethnic and religious conflicts. The crux of the problem, in all these, however, is the inconsistent responses of the government, and its use of double standards in addressing the various issues, persons and groups that tug at the fabric of the country. Ultimately, the persistence of the problems is a result of the same paradigm that the people have suffered from – global liberalism.
ASUU is firmly convinced that the solution to the underdevelopment of our people is re-orienting Nigeria’s economy from neo-liberalism to a peoples-oriented model. The starting point is to exit the envelop-style budgeting and accord education its pride of place in the scheme of things.
CONDITIONAL SUSPENSION OF THE STRIKE ACTION
After an elaborate and extensive consultation process, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU has agreed to conditionally suspend the ongoing action, taking into cognizance that major proposals from government to address the contending issues in the strike action has a deadline of the end of October, 2017.
All members of ASUU are to resume work after their branch congresses tomorrow, 19th September, 2017. However, ASUU will not hesitate to review its position should government reneges on the signed Memorandum of Action.
As a Union of intellectuals, ASUU shall not relent in confronting all human and artificial barriers to a transformed university education for the betterment of Nigerians and our dear Nation. For us, this may be a life-time project. We owe it to prosperity, for the sake of our children and their children’s children.
We thank all Nigerians for their understanding of the irrepressible concern and concerted efforts of ASUU for an educational system and Nigeria of our dream. In particular, our appreciation goes to members of the Press and our dear students who at various stages engaged ASUU leadership for clarifications on the basis of our struggle. Together we can make Nigerian universities enviable. Until and unless this happens, ASUU will not rest.
The struggle continues!
Thank you.
Biodun Ogunyemi
President.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Tuesday lauded the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for reaching an amicable agreement in national interest.
ASUU suspended its five weeks old strike following a closed door meeting with the Federal Government’s delegation.
ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the announcement on suspension of the strike at a news briefing after the closed door meeting with the Federal Government on Monday in Abuja.
The National President of NANS, Mr Kadiri Aruna, made the commendation in an interview, in Enugu.
Aruna also appreciated both parties for respecting and considering the appeal of Nigerian students, especially the NANS’ two weeks’ ultimatum to resolve the crisis.
“First and foremost, we are happy considering many factors that played up before and during the strike.
“However, we thank them for respecting Nigerian students’ demand in its two weeks’ ultimatum of resolving the crisis; even as NANS made efforts to constantly engage both ASUU and the Federal Government during the strike,’’ he said.
The national president, however, urged the Federal Government to earnestly meet up with the various agreements reached “as the suspension of the strike is on conditions to be met within few months.”
“It is a conditional suspension by ASUU predicated on the Federal Government fulfilling its part of the agreement starting from October as agreed.
“We appeal to the Federal Government to act fast in order not to allow the lecturers to go back to a probably prolonged strike,’’ he said.
Aruna also urged students to return to campuses and resume classes to cover the few weeks lost in the academic calendar already.
“We want our members, Nigerian students, to go back to classes and resume lectures forthwith,’’ he added. (NAN)
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has conditionally suspended their five weeks old strike embarked upon to press for the implementation of agreements reached with the government.
It directed its members to return to the classroom with immediately.
President of the Union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi who addressed a news conference at about 9.30 pm Monday night after another round of meeting with the government delegation led by the Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige, directed all members of the union to return to work after their branch congresses on Tuesday.
He said they decided to conditionally suspend the strike action in view of the timeline of October 2017 for the implementation of the signed agreement.
He said that the union will not hesitate to resume the suspended action if the government renege on the signed agreement which he called Memorandum of Action, adding that the signed agreement was backed by a definite timeline for implementation.
He warned that the government must not deliberately dishonor the agreement, pointing out that the continuous breach of signed agreement has been responsible for the constant strike action in the Universities.
Ogunyemi said that the current agreement with the government is based on mutual trust between the union and the government, adding that the trust of the union must be respected by the government.
The meeting which started about 4.00pm was supposed to last for about one hour, but dragged for about four hours before agreement was reached on All contending issues.
Briefing Journalist earlier after the meeting which ended at about 7.55pm, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige said all the gray areas have been sorted out and an agreement reached.
He said that members of the union had insisted that they were tired of having agreements that are not implemented, pointing out that the content of the agreement was taken from the series of meeting with the union since the commencement of the strike.
He said further that that both the government and the union understood themselves and agreed in several issues, assuring that the agreement reached will be implemented by the government in line with available resources.
Areas of agreement include funding for revitalization of public universities and the issue of Earn Academic Allowances, the issue of University Staff Schools and the implementation of the judgement of the National Industrial Court, National Universities Pension Management Company and guidelines for pension matters formProfessors.
He also said that the union agreed to the exemption offered by the government regarding the issue of TSA, which include the issue of grants, endowment fund as well as salary short fall which he said is already being implemented by government.
On the issue of state universities, he said they agreed that the union will submit a position paper to the federal government on their observation with a view for government to advise state government on the funding of state universities.
He describe the union as patriotic members of the society, pointing out that anybody who demand better working equipment is no doubt a patriot.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may call off its one-month old strike this week. President of the Union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, has disclosed the industrial action has not ended yet, because ASUU was still ironing out some grey areas in the agreement with the federal government.
Ogunyemi assured the strike would be called off, as soon as the grey areas were resolved.
“We are still trying to iron out some grey areas with the government. Once we finish doing that, we will address the press,” he told The Nation.
ASUU’s leadership had another meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, last Friday to report the decisions of its members in accordance with the agreements between both parties.
At a conciliatory meeting with government, the union had agreed to go back to its members, to take a decision on the offer of government and revert back with a view to calling off or suspending the strike.
“Most of these issues stemmed from the 2009 agreement that government had ASUU and also from the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding that the government had with ASUU.
“Government is a continuum. Most of those issues were not issues that cropped up from the Buhari administration, we inherited them.
“Based on these discussions, ASUU leadership will consult with its organs and revert back to government within one week.
“They will consult with their organs with a view to calling off the strike. And we expect them to do that within one week, they will get back to government.
“These are the highlights of the meeting and I can tell you that the meeting took place in very cordial atmosphere,” Ngige told newsmen after the meeting.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai led administration has declared the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as illegal. The government also said that it will not pay for days lecturers of the state owned university did not work.
El-Rufai’s spokesman, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement lamented the ongoing action, noting that there was no dispute between the government and the striking lecturers.
“The Kaduna State Government is in receipt of communication from the Kaduna State University, KASU branch of ASUU, confirming that the branch has joined the nationwide strike because they are full members of the national union”, he said.
“This is unacceptable to the state government. It is an anomaly that employees can be on strike without declaring a dispute with their employer.
“It bears restating that Nigeria is a federation of states, and no trade union can alter this federal reality by imposing on an employer state government the terms that federal employees have agreed with the Federal Government.
“The Kaduna State Government is not affected, or bound by any dispute, disagreement or agreement ASUU may have with the Federal Government. As a sub-national entity, the Kaduna State Government is separate from the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Constitution of Nigeria clearly attests to this.
“It is the considered view of the Kaduna State Government that the KASU branch of ASUU has embarked on an unlawful strike. Therefore, the Kaduna State Government is not liable for salaries and allowances for the period of the unlawful strike.
“The government shall proceed to initiate the necessary disciplinary steps in accordance with Kaduna State Public Service Rules with respect to the individual acts of commission or omission of those that choose to join or persist in an unlawful strike”, the statement added.
Hope that the strike action embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is about to come to an end appears dashed as congresses of universities met across the country to deliberate on the recent agreements reached between the leadership of the union and the Federal Government.
Feelers from the congresses that have met indicate that the unions were not ready to call of the strike because the government is yet to show the necessary commitment to their plights.
For instance, in congresses held yesterday at the University of Ibadan, UI, and Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, EKSU, members of the union decided to continue with the strike action on the ground that the Federal Government’s offers are not acceptable to them.
According to reliable sources, the staff are not comfortable with the fact that only about one of the seven demands, which is the issue of staff schools of the universities was convincingly addressed by the government. Government only made promises as regards the other demands which do not show any difference from what was on ground before the strike.
As at the time of filing this report, UI was devoid of activities as all unions on campus both academic and non academic have embarked on indefinite strike.
A lecturer from EKSU said, “We have agreed that the strike must continue until the Federal Government is ready to grant our demands in practical way not in promissory act”.
In one of the interaction with the media after the last meeting the union had with the government, ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi said that he could not determine when the union would call off its strike adding that calling off the strike would be determined by the entire members of the union.
However, the effects of the strike has began to manifest as some students who have secured employments have decided to abandon their academic programmes.
A Master’s Degree student of UI who did not want his name mentioned said, “I have been looking for a job for a while now. Because I don’t want to be sitting at home, I obtained a postgraduate form and I was admitted. We were about to start our exam when the strike action began. Now I have a job. I can’t trade the job with the Master’s prpogramme. If I decide to leave the job and go back to school when the strike action is over, what gives me the impression that I will get a job as soon as I am through with the Master’s programme? I will do the Master’s programme when it is more convenient”.
Another student said, “I am considering private university, maybe BABCOCK or Lead City University. Government universities in Nigeria are becoming a problem and time waster. Unfortunately, we don’t have responsible government who will be ready to do what the unions are asking for. First, people in government will chose to embezzle people’s money or mismanage it rather than using it for public good. Since Nigeria has been in recession, have you heard political office holders reducing their salaries and allowances? Go to the National Assembly, and see the exotic cars they are buying. Their salaries are been paid as at when due.
"Under the nose of President Muhammadu Buhari, those in the executive are also stealing. How many thieves will Buhari catch? Except the system is working, nothing good can come from Nigeria”.
To some female students, the strike action is a blessing to them as some pregnant female students delivered babies.
One of them said, “I thank God because I don’t know how I would have coped. I gave birth within two weeks the strike action commenced. That means that I would have given birth to my child while my first semester examination is on-going. This means that I might have not been able to write all my papers. So you can see now that it is a blessing for me. If the strike action is called off now, at least I can sit for my exam and graduate when my mates are graduating”.
Source
PM News
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