By Adesina Wahab
The union noted that it was absurd
that the government found it expedient to spend huge sums of money to
constantly bail out power generation and distribution firms that had been
privatized and could not do so for the education sector.
THE
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said if the Federal Government
can spend over N1.5 trillion to bail out power generation and distribution
companies over a period of time, it should not to so for the education sector.
This was contained in a statement by the Lagos Zone Coordinator, Prof. Olusoji
Sowande and made available to our correspondent.
“If government could bailout private businesses for “Business Good” then
Nigerian public Universities deserved to be bailed out for “Public Good”, the
union noted. ASUU also slammed the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris
Ngige, for his comment that the government was just collating data and other
things needed for negotiating with ASUU on the ongoing strike by the union.
“The Nigerian public should be appalled that government team, having had series
of meetings with our union, is just collating pertinent data required to engage
our union. Consequently, government has deliberately been wasting the time and
resources of our union on meetings and engagements it was not prepared for. It
is therefore not surprising that Dr. Chris Ngige led government team has not
been able to return to negotiating table since the last engagement with our
Union on November 4, 2020.
“Furthermore, parents, students and the general public should not be persuaded
by Dr. Chris Ngige’s public statement that government cannot afford to pay the
conservative N110 billion naira for revitalization of the Nigerian public
universities. Only recently, government approved N5 billion bailout fund to
operators in the aviation sector to ameliorate the harsh realities of COVID-19
on their business operations. “The Needs Assessment Report of 2012 (an
assessment funded by government itself) provided glowing evidences of the need
to save the public universities from imminent collapse. In fact the document
stipulated that N1.3 trillion injected over five years would save the public
universities from collapsing. Government’s failure to faithfully release the
revitalization fund over the years is a deliberate attempt to allow the public
universities to collapse.
“In the interest of our students who have been at home for seven months, our
union has shifted ground from the in insistence of a release of one tranche of
N220 billion revitalization fund to demand for 50% of one tranche (N110
billion) for government to show its commitment to revitalization of our
universities. This is a major reason government has not been able to return to
negotiation with our union in the last two weeks. “Parents and Nigerian
students should note that our current struggle is patriotic and our sacrifice
for the survival of Nigerian public universities is unparalleled. We have gone
without salaries for 5 to 7 months, we have had to work under very harsh
environment, without adequate facilities/equipment and with ever increasing
student population. Our students who have never enjoyed learning in very
comfortable environment are beginning to accept the dilapidated and crowded
lecture theaters as well as hostel accommodation as the best they could enjoy.
“Therefore, parents, students and the general public should join us in the
battle for the soul of the Nigerian public Universities as failure to do so
would spell doom for the coming generation. For the records, the issues in
contention goes beyond our rejection of Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Information System (IPPIS) for which our union have developed an alternative
called University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). Members of
ASUU are on total, comprehensive and indefinite strike action because of
failure of government to fully implement the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement and
February 2019 Memorandum of Action which stipulated timeline for the
revitalization of dilapidated infrastructure in public universities, payment of
outstanding Earned Academic Allowances, conclusion of renegotiation of 2009
FGN-ASUU Agreement, setting up of Visitation Panels to Federal Universities as
well as underfunding and proliferation of state universities,” the union said.
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