The development came just as the senators yesterday appealed to
university lecturers who have been on strike for the past four months to
suspend the strike and return to work to prevent further devaluation of
the country’s educational fortunes.The Senate also mandated Mark to engage the president and the leadership of ASUU to bring the strike to an end
The Senate authorised the Senate Committee on Education to continue to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission, the ASUU and all other relevant stakeholders to proffer lasting solutions to stem further strikes in the country.
These were fallouts of the motion sponsored by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and 106 others entitled “Appeal to Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off their strike action and return to work”.
In the contentious 2009 agreement, ASUU was said to have demanded N1.5trillion within a spate of three years from the federal government for funding of universities outside the normal yearly budgetary allocation.
Aside the N1.5 trillion funds for universities from 2009-2011, ASUU was said to have also demanded allowance outside its conventional monthly emoluments which encompasses allowances like injury and excess work load.
Senate president Mark said when he saw the document he was wondering if it was an agreement or a proposal, noting that the people who signed the document on behalf of the government were ignorant and ASUU took advantage of the ignorance of the negotiators.
Senator Mark also pointed out that statements credited to minister of state for education Wike that the strike would be resolved in a few months was insensitive, adding that the problems should have been tackled yesterday and people should desist from making inflammatory statement.
He also added that government should not be reneging on agreements and the national development of the country should be hinged on education, not oil.
Marl said: “My appeal on behalf of the Senate is that both ASUU and the federal government should be ready to shift ground and not just stand on their current positions over the matter which would not do anybody any good and even any one of them any good.
“I want to beg ASUU in particular, on behalf of the Senate, to, in line with our resolution here today, suspend its four-month-old strike in the interest of the students and in fact our dear country whose education sector is at the verge of collapse as a result of this strike and other associated problems.
“For those who negotiated on behalf of the federal government with ASUU in October 2009, the facts made available to us today by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Uche Chukwumeje, showed that they are people who do not know their right from their left and, in the process, put the federal government into the problem it is facing today, because when the agreements were read out I thought they were mere proposals, only for Chukwumereje to confirm that they signed the largely un-implementable agreements characterized by payment of all manner of allowances.”
In his remarks, Senator Olusola Adeyeye (Osun, APC), also a professor, chided ASUU, saying that most of their demands are not applicable in any part of the world. “You can tell the future of a nation by the state of the schools, and the state of schools in the country is pathetic,” he said. “Where else in the world do you pay for examination allowance? Is that not the job of the lecturers? You pay for postgraduate project supervision: is that not the job of the professors?”
Senator Abdul Ningi said: “There was an agreement and it was signed by both parties in 2009. We must accept agreement even if it has gaps; it’s a moral duty to know once an agreement is reached and signature is appended the agreement becomes binding.”
Senator Bello Tukur (Adamawa, PDP) said the money ASUU is requesting is not too much considering the amount of money spent on SURE P and fuel subsidy and these programmes can be suspended to attend to the needs of ASUU.
Jonathan to ASUU: Allow reason to prevail
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, for the second time in one week, yesterday appealed to the striking university teachers to allow reason to prevail by calling off their four-month-old strike, saying that the government had recently released the sum of N130 billion to the ivory towers for infrastructure development and payment of earned allowances to staff.
Jonathan spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State, during the 29th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).
He disclosed that the government had increased the budget for education progressively from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2013 with N55.74 billion allocated to the university sub-sector alone.
Jonathan, who was represented on the occasion by the supervising minister for education, Chief Nyesom Wike, urged ASUU members to emulate the UNILORIN branch which has maintained uninterrupted academic calendar in the last 13 years.
Jonathan challenged UNILORIN lecturers to sustain the norm of academic stability, and “resolve not to be dragged into avoidable strike actions which are clearly detrimental to the growth and development of our educational system”.
“We have it on record that this positive step which has been the hallmark of this institution has brought notable achievements to the university in all spheres of its endeavour,” Jonathan added. “Our universities must be agents of change. The situation whereby a large number of the graduates produced by our universities lack the relevant skills due to poor training and are therefore unemployable is intolerable.
University teachers must re-orient themselves and avoid distractions at work occasioned by unnecessary strikes which remain the bane of our educational system with its attendant consequences.
“It is on this premise that I wish to once again call on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to allow reason to prevail by immediately calling off their ongoing strike action in the interest of the nation and our children while government systematically continues to address the myriad of challenges facing our university system. I call on the university teachers to work with the government to make our universities centres of excellence”.
Funding of universities could not be shouldered only by government, Jonathan said, urging all stakeholders to support the government.
The university graduated a total of 6, 851 first degree and 969 higher degree students with 42 of the graduates bagging First Class Honours.
The vice-chancellor, Professor Abdul Ganiyu Ambali, who presented the institution’s annual report to Jonathan, noted that the university had become the prime choice of admission seekers due to its academic stability.
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