NASU demands adequate funding for education sector

The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU)  has called on  various tiers of government  to adequately fund Educational and Allied Institutions, retrain workers in the school system, resuscitate libraries, and equip the laboratories  because  education is  the bedrock of  development. The union arrived at these resolutions at the 6th Quadrennial Delegates Conference […]

The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU)  has called on  various tiers of government  to adequately fund Educational and Allied Institutions, retrain workers in the school system, resuscitate libraries, and equip the laboratories  because  education is  the bedrock of  development.
The union arrived at these resolutions at the 6th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of NASU which ended in Abuja on Thursday. 
NASU appealed to the federal and state governments to increase their funding of Educational and Allied Institutions to conform with the 26% recommended by UNESCO.
They also called on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to extend its intervention funds to Research Institutes which formerly enjoyed the services of the defunct Education Trust Fund, (ETF) as they are also Tertiary Institutions.  
NASU said: “Conscious  of the unique role the non-teaching staff of Primary and Post Primary Schools play in rendering support services in this foundation sector on which subsequent higher education systems are predicated.  There have been agitations for improved salaries and allowances over the years culminating in the recent granting of peculiarity allowance to the teachers. There is no way schools can graduate pupils without the support services of non-academic members. So the discriminatory application of the peculiarity allowance to a section of the work force is capable of dampening morale and breeding apathy among this group of workers.”
The union, while commending some state governors that have implemented the peculiarity allowance to the non-teaching staff members, called on defaulting state governors to approve and extend the 27½% peculiarity allowance to non-teaching members of staff in the interest of fair labour practices, equity and good conscience.
NASU also drew the attention of the  federal government to  “the 2009 FGN/NASU Agreement’’ which  addressed the issue of staff schools and  demanded  the retention of all staff of tertiary institutions’ staff schools in the institutions.
On the issue of fuel subsidy crisis, the union lamented that Nigeria as one of the leading oil producing countries in the world continues to rely on the importation of petroleum products against the background of what obtains in other oil producing countries.
“We are disturbed that this importation has taken the cost of petroleum products far above the affordability of average Nigerians. We are also worried that the successive governments have failed to demonstrate the political will at addressing the issue of building new refineries, and adequately maintaining the existing ones for optimal productions for local consumption and exports.  We noted with dismay that the nation’s refineries have failed to operate at installed capacity in spite of the billions of Naira spent on their turn around maintenance (TAM) thereby causing the nation to perpetually rely on importation of petroleum products,”  it said.