On July 1, 2013, Nigerian university lecturers, under the aegis of
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began a nationwide
indefinite strike. The decision of ASUU to embark on the industrial
action, according to its president, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, was taken due
to the failure of the Federal Government to implement a 2009 agreement
and 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it entered with the union.
The suspension of its earlier strike of December 4, 2011 in January
2012, declared to pressurize the government to fulfill its promise, gave
rise to the MoU which equally captured the various issues contained in
the 2009 agreement. Key areas of the agreement as identified by ASUU
then are as follows: Funding requirements for revitalization of
universities; Federal Government assistance to state universities;
establishment of NUPEMCO (Nigerian University Pension Management
Commission); Progressive increase in annual budgetary allocation to
education to 26% between 2009 and 2020 and earned allowances. Others
are: Amendment of the pension/retirement age of academics on the
professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years; reinstatement of prematurely
dissolved governing councils; transfer of federal government landed
property to universities and setting up of research development council
and provision of research equipment to laboratories and classrooms in
the universities.
Out of all the above items in the said treaty signed by the federal
government and ASUU, government had made essential laws on the 70 years
retirement age of lecturers as well as the creation of NUPEMCO. Among
the remaining issues, the funding requirements for the revitalization of
Nigerian universities and the payment of earned allowances appeared to
have caused more brouhaha.
The 2009 pact reportedly provides that all federal universities would
need the sum of N1.5 trillion to be spread over three years (2009-2011)
for the regeneration of the institutions. However, this figure was said
to have been reduced to N1.3 trillion and the gesture extended to state
universities through the 2012 MoU. The N1.3 trillion, according to the
MoU, was expected to be released over a period of four years – N100
billion in 2012 and an annual sum of N400 billion in the following three
years. The ASUU helmsman, Fagge was quoted as saying: “By our own
estimation, the MoU should have fetched the Nigerian public universities
a total of N500 billion now if government were to faithfully implement
the understanding reached with ASUU in 2012. A continuation of that
process would have yielded a revitalization fund of N1.3 trillion by the
year 2015.”
So far, federal government is said to have released the sum of N130
billion. From this released amount, N30 billion is for the payment of
earned allowances to lecturers, which is supposed to be N92 billion and
N100 billion is for the revitalization of the universities, as against
the N500 billion which it ought to have released based on the MoU.
According to federal government, the government has no money to meet the
entire demands of ASUU, as doing so may lead to a total shutdown of
governance in the country.
But ASUU is of the view that the federal government was just being
deceitful and dishonorable, and as such, it insisted their members will
not go back to work until their demands were fully met. The union
through Fagge said the federal government, has shown great generosity to
private concerns like the airlines and financial institutions with
trillions of naira from public treasuries as ‘bailouts’. Fagge also
recalled the government largesse extended to Nollywood, which he said
was still very fresh in their memories. The ASUU boss, therefore,
wondered why the same government will now say it has no money to fund
the revitalization of public universities, knowing fully well that
education is the bedrock of any development, of which university
education plays a key role.
During a protest in Ekiti by the National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS) to urge the federal government to yield to ASUU’s
demands, Asafon Sunday, who is the South-West Zone Director of Action
and Mobilization of the student body said: “Between 2000 and 2011,
government earned about N48.48 trillion from the sale of oil alone,
against N3.10 trillion earned between 1979 and 1999.The Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2012 financial year alone accrued a sum of
N5.12 trillion as revenue generated from tax paid by the masses. With
this upsurge in the revenue at the disposal of the Nigerian government,
one would have expected such to translate to commensurate improvement in
the quality of public education as well as other social services.”
However, many Nigerians and groups in the country have continued to
appeal to ASUU to call off the over two months old strike. One of such
pleas came from the vice chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta
Affairs, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman. The Senator, who is the
youngest lawmaker in the Red Chamber, said it was important for ASUU
members to reconsider their position and return back to the classroom,
in the interest of the students who are directly bearing the brunt of
the industrial action.
While noting that the demands of ASUU are legitimate, reasonable and
absolutely in order, as they are geared towards ensuring proper funding
of public universities in the country, Abatemi-Usman said the lecturers
should consider the plight of the students.
— Jegede, a public affairs analyst wrote from Abuja
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