FG and ASUU, please reach a deal
Academic activities in Nigerian public universities have been grounded in the past one week. This followed an indefinite strike action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. President of ASUU Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, who announced the commencement of the strike at a news conference in Abuja on Monday last week, […]
Academic activities in Nigerian public universities have been grounded in the past one week. This followed an indefinite strike action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU. President of ASUU Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, who announced the commencement of the strike at a news conference in Abuja on Monday last week, August 14, told reporters that “the strike is immediate, total and indefinite.”
Ogunyemi said the decision to proceed on strike was taken at an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of ASUU which held on August 12, 2017. The resolve, he said, was prompted by the federal government’s failure to implement the terms of the agreement reached between the two parties in 2009. He said it was the failure to implement the 2009 agreement that led to the 6-months strike of 2013, which he said compelled the federal government to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the union on December 11, 2013. That MoU too was only partially honoured by government.
The ASUU President listed the areas of dispute in the current strike action to include release of N200bn annually for six years for the revitalisation of public universities, payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAAs), running of university staff schools, fractionalisation of and non-payment of salaries, and registering the Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO) as a separate pension firm to exclusively manage universities’ staff pension matters.
ASUU said it was irked by the cut in lecturers’ salaries in many universities by between 20 to 40 percent every month. It said the situation is worse in state universities where many state governments have stopped the release of statutory subventions to them. ASUU also expressed disappointment over government’s refusal to pay the outstanding balance of EAAs, which it promised to pay after a verification of the initial N30bn provided for the purpose. Prof Ogunyemi lamented that government dashed the union’s hopes as it reneged on fulfilling all the agreements reached with it.
Minister of Labour Dr. Chris Ngige however accused ASUU of not giving government a 15-day advance notice before embarking on the strike. ASUU President replied that “there was a letter dated July 10 to inform major stakeholders” of the planned strike; adding that since it suspended its seven days’ warning strike on November 16, 2016, the union had written 10 letters in the last 10 months to relevant stakeholders. He said consultations and meetings including the deal brokered by Senate President Bukola Saraki failed to make government to fulfil its promise.
Like most Nigerians we have been critical over the years of ASUU’s frequent resort to strike actions but this time around, we feel it has a good case. Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu, a life-long advocate of heavy investment in education, said last week that “government failed to fulfil its own part of the bargain.” This stance should at least soften ASUU’s determination on a total, prolonged strike action. The current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would have earned ASUU’s respect and made history of a tenure without ASUU strike if it had implemented parts of the 2013 agreement, especially those that did not have direct financial implications such as registration of NUPEMCO. The Minister of Education said last week that he was going to meet immediately with ASUU leaders, thereby raising hopes of affected students and their parents that the strike may soon be called off.
We urge government to move quickly to fulfil its pact with ASUU in practical terms. The academic calendar has been stable for some time in Nigerian universities. We thus appeal to the negotiation teams of government and ASUU to resolve all the issues amicably so that the strike will be called off this week. This will avert the chances of the current academic session spilling over into the 2017/2018 session which is due to begin in October.