JONATHAN NDA - ISAIAH reports senate's appeal
to the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) to suspend
the 4-month old strike and the subsequent resolution of the Senate for
the senate President David Mark to intervene in the crisis.
The nation's universities have been shut for four months now over the
demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities for the government
to implement the 2009 agreement it signed with the Federal government.
The government on the other hand is insisting on re-negotiating the 2009
agreement. Both sides have refused to shift ground on the strike with
the students bearing the brunt of the industrial action. Information
minister, Labaran Maku recently claimed that government will shut down
if it yields to all ASUU demands.
The Agreement
The agreements ASUU signed with the Federal government in 2009
included funding requirements for revitalisation of the Nigerian
universities; Federal government assistance to state universities;
establishment of NUPEMCO and progressive increase in annual budgetary
allocation to education to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020; and earned
allowances.
Also in the 2009 agreement ASUU was said to have demanded for
N1.5trillion within a spate of three years from the federal government
for funding of Universities outside the normal yearly budgetary
allocation.
Aside the N1.5trillion funds for universities from 2009-2011, ASUU
was said to have also demanded for earn allowance outside its
conventional monthly emoluments which encompasses allowances he
following: earned academic allowance, postgraduate supervision
allowance, teaching practice/ industrial supervision / field trip
allowance and honoraria for external / internal examiner. Others are
honoraria for external moderation of undergraduate and postgraduate
examination, post graduate study grant, external assessment of readers
or professors, call duty / clinical duty / clinic hazard, responsibility
allowance and excess workload allowance
ASUU also asked that the 2004 Joint Admission and Matriculation
Board, JAMB, Act, and the National University Commission Act 2004, be
amended.
In the light of all these, the Senate last week, in a motion raised
by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and 107 others Titled" Appeal To Staff
Union of Universities", to call off the strike action and return to
work.
According to the sponsor of the motion, for upward of four months,
the strike action by ASUU has paralyzed academic activities in the
nation's public universities and rendered students of those institutions
redundant
"Observes that while the federal government may have released the sum
of one hundred billion naira for infrastructure development in the
respective universities and thirty billion naira for accumulated
allowances of lecturers, the striking lecturers have rejected the
gesture as being grossly inadequate to meet their demands"
"The lingering strike action by ASUU has worsened the quality content
of the educational competitiveness of our public universities a
development that is not healthy for the nation as education remains the
greatest asset and resources of any nation"
In its resolutions the Senate 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 the Senate President to engage the president
and the leadership of ASUU to bring the strike to an end even as it
also mandated 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.
Senate President David Mark also labeled the negotiators on the side
on government on the contentious 2009 agreement as ignorant.
It will be recalled that the government negotiating team in 2009
comprised; Deacon Gamaliel Onosode, Prof. Musa Abdullahi ; Prof. Greg
Iwu, ex-Pro-Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Rev. Father
T.E. Uwaifo, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma; Emeka
Nwankpa, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Abia State University, Uturu; Ambassador
Muhammed Adamu Jumba, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano; Prof.
Mahmood Yakubu, Executive Secretary, Education Trust Fund; and Senator
Abdullah Wali
Senate President David Mark said when he saw the document, he
wondered 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 the
Minister of State for education Wike that the strike will be resolved in
a few months as 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
Mark 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
standing on their current positions over the matter which would not do
anybody any good and even anyone of them any good.
"I want to beg ASUU in particular on behalf of the Senate to in line
with our resolution here today, to 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 Ediucation, 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 problem it is facing today
because when the entire agreements were read out I thought they are mere
proposals only for Chukwumereje to confirm that they signed the largely
un-implementable agreements characterized by payment for all manner of
allowances".
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu said: "we should prevail on
ASUU to call off the strike in the interest of our children .Today we
have all kind of challenges, the minister of state for Education said he
hopes the strike will be resolved in some few months, I just hope he
was misquoted, the matter should have been resolved yesterday. Our
students have indulged themselves in difficult unacceptable activities.
"I am also worried that the implementation will not solve all our
educational programmes. I suggest the government must provide
opportunity for everybody through loans, scholarship. Universities must
be autonomous so that the issue of strikes will stop because the future
of Nigeria depends on the education sector.
Adding to the debate, Kabiru Gaya (Kano APC) said, the federal
government should honor its obligation, it's an agreement. If there is
honesty, trust, lack of corruption things will move fast. See the issue
of power sector, pension scam and people are seeing all this. I want to
appeal to them to resume work.
In his remarks Senator Olusola Adeyeye( Osun APC) who is also a
professor, chided ASUU saying that most of their demands are not
applicable in any part of the world adding that you can tell the future
of a nation by the state of the schools and the states of schools in the
country is pathetic
"Where else in the world do you pay for examination allowance, is
that not the job of the lecturers, you pay for post graduate project
supervision, is that not the job of the professors, he asked
Senator Abdul Ningi( Bauchi PDP) said: "There was an agreement and it
was signed by both parties in 2009, we must accept agreement even if it
has gaps, it is a moral duty to know once an agreement is reached and
signature is appended the agreement becomes binding"
Senator Bello Tukur ( Adamawa PDP) in his remarks said the money ASUU
is requesting for 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.
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