It is not yet over, as the
Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) 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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment