'ASUU will continue strike till FG gets money’

The Academic Staff Union of Universities will sustain its ongoing strike until the Federal Government gets the money to meet its demands, an ex-officio member has said.
The immediate past chairman of the union at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka, Enugu State on Friday that the government should not allow a total collapse of tertiary education in the country.

Okolie said that no country had attained enviable height economically and technologically without adequate funds for the education sector.

He said the sector remained the engine room of national development.

“The National Assembly and some executive members are paid jumbo salaries but when it comes to education funding the government has no money.

“How will the country be able to achieve its vision 20:2020 of being among the 20 leading economies if the education sector is not well-funded,’’ he asked.

The former chairman solicited the understanding of the students and their parents, saying the union’s demand was to ensure quality teaching and learning in the universities.

“It is unreliable that in some universities student receive lectures under the trees and in stadium.

“Books, laboratory equipment in our libraries and laboratories are outdated while some politicians and government officials are wasting money in building houses in every state capital and buying fleets of exotic cars.

“The demands will enable the universities to produce quality graduates employable in any part of the world,’’ he said.

Information from NAN was used in this report.

We can’t meet ASUU demands- FG

The Federal Government of Nigeria has appealed to striking varsity lecturers to call off the strike and allow for another round of negotiation as the government cannot honour the 2009 agreement it reached with the body.

Labour Minister Emeka Wogu stated this while briefing the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the activities of his ministry. It was at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

“We have made offer to ASUU. It is as complex as presented. Negotiation is ongoing. The National Assembly is equally involved. We believe they will soon call off the strike. I personally and passionately appeal to them to call off the strike.

It will not affect the negotiation, if they call off the strike. It is better for them to be inside than outside. Students have equally appealed to them.

I inherited an agreement signed by the Federal Government with ASUU and that agreement is practically impossible for any administration to implement. We are still discussing with them. If I leave here, I am going to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) where we are meeting with them. I hope that very soon, we will resolve it.”

The nine-point agreement the government entered into with ASUU include: funding requirements for the revitalisation of Nigerian universities; Federal Government’s assistance to state universities; establishment of NUPEMCO; and progressive increase in annual budgetary allocation to the education sector to 26 per cent between 2009 and 2020.

Other components of the agreement are: payment of earned allowances; amendment to the pension/retirement age of academics non professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years; and reinstatement of prematurely dissolved Governing Councils.

Also included in the agreement are: transfer of Federal Government’s landed property to the universities and setting up of research development councils and provision of research equipment to laboratories and classrooms in the nation’s universities.

OAU Post-UMTE: Only 44 candidates score above 300

Only 44 candidates out of the 12, 200 who sat for the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) of The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, scored above 300.

This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, the Public Relations Officer of OAU, in Osogbo on Sunday.

Durotoluwa Olanrewaju, who applied to study Chemical Engineering, had the highest score of 332, while Soile Adetola, an intending Medical student, scored 327.

Odimayo Moses and Nafiu Oluwadamilare, who applied to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering, scored 323 each.

It also stated that 5,691 others, scored 200 and above.

Strike: ASUU walks out on FG, NASS team

The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday walked out on the National Assembly Joint Committee on Education and a Federal Government's negotiating team.

Chairman Senate  Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerijie and his House of  Representatives counterpart, Hon Aminu Suleiman had invited representatives of the Federal Government and ASUU to the National Assembly with the aim of ending the ongoing strike by the university teachers.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqquayatu Rufa'i, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof.  Julius Okojie, among others represented the Federal Government at the meeting.

However, when the ASUU delegation got to the proposed venue of the meeting,  they met the Chukwumerijie led joint Committee meeting with representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) in a meeting.

While the meeting with ASUP was meant to resolve the over two months strike by polytechnic teachers, that of COEASU was meant to avert a similar action in Colleges of Education.

Notwithstanding that Chukwumerijie who chaired the meeting sent a message to the ASUU delegation to give him 10 minutes to round up the session, they stormed out of the National Assembly for being kept waiting by the Committee and the Federal Government's delegation.

The Committee was shocked on rounding up the meeting that the ASUU delegation did not heed the plea of its chairman to give it time to conclude its meeting.

Former Chairman, House Committee on Education, Hon. Farouk Lawan urged the Committee to discountenance the ASUU's action in the interest of students thrown out of school by the strike and the country's education sector.

However, a member of the Committee, Hon Jerry Alagboso described the action of ASUU as "intellectual arrogance".

He called on the leadership of the Committee to formally write to warn ASUU against such tendencies in future.

The Minister of Education, Ruqquayatu Rufa'i and the Minister of Education, Emeka Wogu did not comment.

Chairman House Committee on Education, Aminu Suleiman noted that as a former, such actions were not new in labour relations.

He called on the lawmakers to take the treatment with maturity and in the interest of the nations's education sector and the students now made to stay at home because of the strike.

Chukwumerijie said the Committee will reach out to ASUU with the aim of reconvening the meeting next week.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Education, Rufa'i and Wogu yesterday appealed to ASUP to call off their over two months strike.

Chukwumerijie promised that the Committee would work to ensure that the issues that led o the strike were resolved within the next two weeks.

National President of ASUP, Comrade Chibuzo Asomugha, said any decision to suspend the strike can only be taken at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union.

He was however not specific on when the union would convene its NEC meeting.

The committee also pleaded with the Asagha Emmanuel Nkoro-led COEASU to give it time to intervene in their industrial dispute with the Federal Government to avert the proposed strike.

Information from The Nation Newspaper was used in this report.

NANS to state position on ASUU strike on Friday

The National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS) will come out with its position on the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday, its president, Mr Yinka Gbadebo, said on Wednesday.

Gbadebo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the body was still consulting on the issue.

He said that for now, they were appealing to all parties involved in the strike to find ways of reaching a compromise as students were always affected during strikes.

On the implication of the ASUU strike coming when the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) was also protesting, he said that it was not good for students to be at home for long.

“The government should at least do something for the unions because they play an important role and in the interest of the nation’s academic future, there should be a compromise.

“We are appealing to both unions to look into the plight of the students because the staying at home of the students could do damage to their future, “ he said.

According to him, though the demands of the two unions would improve their productivity and welfare, they should also consider the students.

Gbadebo said that there should be give-and-take from both the government and the unions in resolving the problems.

NAN recalls that ASUU had directed its members to embark on an indefinite strike nationwide since Monday.

The action followed the inability of the Federal Government to implement some of the issues contained in a 2009 agreement it had with the union.

ASUU also said the government had reneged on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it entered into with the union in December 2011.

ASUP has also been on strike since April– over several issues.

Information from NAN was used in this report.