ASUU Gives Federal Government Final Mandate To End Strike

 The industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union Of Universities, is still far from over as the Union has given the Government conditions to be met before the union would finally call off its over four-month old strike.

“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 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.”

A prominent member of the union, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the union, told Punch that doing this would give the association the confidence that “the Government knows what it is doing when it signed the agreement.”

He said, "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."

Recall that the leadership of ASUU had engaged in a 13-hour marathon meeting with government delegation led by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja between Monday and Tuesday.

Asked when the lecturers would call off the strike, a source who was at the meeting 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?’"

The agreement reached by both ASUU and the Federal Government is that government would inject N1.1tn into public universities in the next five years. But ASUU need guarantees that this will happen.

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BREAKING NEWS: President Jonathan Moves To End ASUU Strike

There have been many indications that after today's meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the four month strike of the lecturers may finally end.

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A closed-door meeting has started on Monday at 2:40 pm inside the First Lady Conference Room, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

It has in attendance the President, Vice President, Namadi Sambo; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike; and Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu among others.

The ASUU is presented by its Chairman, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, Prof. Abdulahi Sule-Kano, Prof. Dipo Fashina and Prof. Festus Iyayi, Prof. Suleiman Abdul, and Prof. Abdullahi Sule-Kano. President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulawahid Omar and that of the Trade Union Congress, Bobboi Kaigama, are also there.

Indication that the strike that is now into its 5th month may be resolved has emerged when the President stated, while shaking hands with Fagge:

"My president, I hope it will end today. Our children have suffered enough. We must find a solution."

All those in attendance responded with a loud "amen."

When greeting the NLC President, Abdulwahab Omar, Jonathan said:

"My president with you around today, there will be no problem, our agreement is signed, sealed and delivered."

This is the first meeting between the lecturers and Jonathan since the beginning of the strike. The Presidency took over negotiations with the striking lecturers September 19, with the Vice-President Namadi Sambo spearheading the FG side.

The lecturers were seen meeting among themselves in their bus during the break that has started at 6.30 pm. No details of there discussion have been yet made known.

We will keep you updated...

It will be recalled, that ASUU has embarked upon an indefinite strike July 1, 2013. The lecturers protest against an alleged FG’s failure to honor an agreement signed between the govenment and ASUU in 2009 pertaining to issues of university funding and improvement of infrastructure in the sector. So far all the attempts to come to an agreement between the FG and ASUU have been fruitless.

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Yet another ASUU strike

University teachers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have embarked on another round of strike following the Federal Government’s failure to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2009.
Despite overtures by government, including holding talks with the leadership of the union, its National President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, had maintained that the indefinite industrial action embarked upon by its members would not be called off until the contentious issues involved are resolved.

Among ASUU’s demands, two major issues stand out. They are increased funding for the universities and the implementation of the 70 years retirement age for university professors. ASUU is dismayed that government has failed to honour the agreement it reached with it two years ago. In the thinking of ASUU leadership represented by Awuzie, government has deliberately refused to honour the agreement.

But in a recent meeting with Senate Committee on Education chaired by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, explained that nine of the 19 items agreed upon by government and the union had been fully implemented.

The minister, who recognized retirement age as one of the major concerns in the demand said that a Bill to implement it is before the National Assembly.

She said that affected staff who may retire before the passage of the bill will be offered contract appointments which would be regularized when the bill takes effect.

While academic activities have been grounded in the nation’s universities as a result of the strike, non-teaching staff of these institutions have also given notice of a nationwide strike by their unions. They are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

Like ASUU, they too are demanding, amongst others, the immediate implementation of the 65 years retirement age for non-teaching staff and increased funding of the universities. If they make good their threat, our universities will be the worse for it.

Frequent strike in the nation’s universities, whether instigated by ASUU or any other union, does not augur well for serious teaching and research, expected in these citadels of learning. Strikes have disrupted the academic calendars of these institutions and equally contributed to the lowering of academic standards and production of poor quality graduates.

These problems will further be compounded if the government does not do anything positive to stem the tide of strike in the universities. Let government wade into the matter with the seriousness it deserves and address the concerns of the affected university workers.

Government can begin by showing demonstrable will that it wants to implement the 2009 agreement it freely entered into with ASUU and other sister unions in the universities so that industrial peace can reign on the campuses.

While we expect that from government, university teachers and their non-teaching counterparts must realise that strike has been overused in Nigerian universities that it is beginning to lose its relevance as a tool of negotiation and settling of industrial dispute.

Being researchers, let the striking workers come up with other creative and pragmatic ways of dealing with trade disputes rather than resorting to strike every time.

Therefore, we urge all the parties to the trade dispute to dialogue and iron out their differences and amicably settle the matter once and for all for peace to reign on our campuses.

Government need not wait until trade unions rattle it to action. When a government enters into an agreement, the onus is for it to fulfill such agreement to the letter without being coerced or arm-twisted to do so.

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