ASUU Gives New Conditions To FG

Members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities have given the Federal
Government certain conditions to be met
before the union could call off its four-
month old strike.
Part of this condition, Saturday PUNCH
learnt, is that all federal parastatals in
charge of fund, labour, and education must
sign the agreement purportedly reached
between its leadership and the Federal
Government on Tuesday.
A prominent member of the union, who
craved anonymity because he was not
authorised to speak on behalf of the union,
told Saturday PUNCH that doing this would
give the association the confidence that
“the Federal Government knows what it is
doing when it signed the agreement.”
He said, “I must tell you that our mandate
remains. The only mandate we have is that
2009 agreement must be met. We have not
reached any agreement with the Federal
Government.
“Since the Federal Government wants to be
releasing N220bn every year for five years,
then all monetary and regulatory agencies
must sign. The Central Bank of Nigeria,
Ministries of Finance and Labour, National
Assembly, Office of the Presidency, National
Universities Commission, Tertiary Education
Trust Fund, Trade Union Congress and our
umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour
Congress, must sign with consequences
stated.
“The reason we will ensure this is that we
don’t want argument tomorrow that the
agreement was entered in error or that
they don’t know the implication of signing
the agreement. If possible, documents that
will provide for automatic deduction of the
agreed money at a particular/agreed date
must be provided.”
The leadership of the union had engaged in
a 13-hour marathon meeting with
government delegation led by President
Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja between
Monday and Tuesday.
Though it was generally perceived that
both ASUU and the Federal Government
achieved breakthrough in negotiation for
the first time after the lengthy meeting with
the President, Saturday PUNCH learnt that
the lecturers might not be in a hurry to go
back to class.
Another source close to ASUU who was also
part of the marathon meeting with the
President in Abuja, said there was nothing
new in what the President promised
members of the union.
According to him, government had always
failed in implementing agreements reached
with ASUU. He said, “Truly the President sat
down for more than 13 hours with us. He
told us that we were not leaving the venue
until the issues were resolved. The Federal
Government also promised to inject funds
into the system, but a promissory note is
not enough.
“Where would the money come from? There
is no assurance that government will
provide money especially with the mop-up
policy in place that ensures that unspent
money is refunded to government’s coffers
at the end of every year.’’
Asked when the lecturers would call off the
strike, he said, “I doubt if the strike is
ending soon. The problem is with the
Finance Minister. Where is government
getting N1trn from? A government that
could not implement agreement between
2009 and 2013, what is the guarantee that
they would honour this agreement.
“It is all politics. We are still awaiting
directives from our branches. We have told
them the outcome of the meeting with the
President but we are waiting for them to
tell us what they think of government’s
proposal.
“Imagine the Minister of Education has
travelled out of the country. He was
appointed Vice President for UNESCO
General Assembly. How can he travel out of
the country without resolving the crisis in
the education sector?’’
He said the Federal Government should
spend the trillions of dollars in its
Sovereign Wealth Fund to finance university
education and improve infrastructure in the
country.
A key component of the agreement reached
by both ASUU and the Federal Government
was that government would inject N1.1trn
into public universities in the next five
years. Government is expected to inject
N220bn yearly into the public university
sector beginning from 2014. But
government said it could only release
N100bn this year, noting that the amount
had already been processed.
The Federal Government also indicated that
the N1.1trn would be domiciled at the
Central Bank of Nigeria to show its
commitment to the agreement. The money
is expected to be released on quarterly
basis to the universities so that there won’t
be any problem about funding the deal.
The National Universities Commission and
the Trade Union Congress will be the joint
guarantors of the agreement while the
Minister of Education will be the
implementing officer. Government,
according to sources at the meeting, also
agreed to revamp public universities by
ensuring that all the issues that always lead
to strike are dealt with once and for all.
Asked to confirm if lecturers were planning
to call off their strike, ASUU Chairman,
University of Calabar branch, Dr. James
Okpiliya, said the local chapter was yet to
get formal briefing on the meeting with
President Goodluck Jonathan.
He, however, said the union would make its
position known to the press on the
President’s offer after the end of a meeting
scheduled for mid-night Thursday.
Also, Chairman of ASUU in Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Adegbola
Akinola, said that members must be
properly briefed on the resolution between
the Federal Government and
representatives of ASUU in the last
marathon meeting.
He said the only condition that could make
its members accept any offer would be the
provision of necessary documents.
He said, “The NEC meeting may not hold
now. It is the local congress that is
expected to hold first which is either
tomorrow or Monday.
“Our members are not yet briefed about
the details, so it is when we meet that we
will know the details and then discuss
whether what we got is sufficient enough to
justify our action or demand.
“I can’t really pre-empt the mind of other
members. But if we are to accept any offer,
there must be document to back that up.
We need to obtain documents on that.
Maybe if there is a document, people may
look at it critically.”
However, the Federal Government said it
would include the N1.1trn promised ASUU
in the education budget starting from next
year. It also said it was waiting for the
union to know the next step to take.
The Director, Press and Public Relations of
the Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipide,
told one of our correspondents on
Thursday that government was waiting for
ASUU to take the necessary steps.
Meanwhile, the Dean of Social Sciences,
University of Lagos, Prof. Omololu
Soyombo, has said that the general ASUU
body must agree before the strike could be
called off.
He said, “It is difficult to believe the
President but we give him the benefit of
doubt. We believe that the President is
noble, the ASUU president promised to give
him a feedback. If this had been done
earlier, the strike wouldn’t have extended
for so long.”
Corroborating his view, the Chairman,
Lagos State University, ASUU, Dr. Jamiu
Oluwatoki said, “It won’t be long again. By
next week there should be a NEC meeting
and subsequently the congress meetings
before the president can call off the strike.”
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