Members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities have given the Federal Government certain conditions to be
met before the union could call off its four-month old strike.
Part of this condition, Saturday PUNCH
learnt, is that all federal parastatals in charge of fund, labour, and
education must sign the agreement purportedly reached between its
leadership and the Federal Government on Tuesday.
A prominent member of the union, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the union, told Saturday PUNCH
that doing this would give the association the confidence that “the
Federal Government knows what it is doing when it signed the agreement.”
He said, “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 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.
“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.”
The leadership of the union had engaged
in a 13-hour marathon meeting with government delegation led by
President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja between Monday and Tuesday.
Though it was generally perceived that
both ASUU and the Federal Government achieved breakthrough in
negotiation for the first time after the lengthy meeting with the
President, Saturday PUNCH learnt that the lecturers might not be in a hurry to go back to class.
Another source close to ASUU who was
also part of the marathon meeting with the President in Abuja, said
there was nothing new in what the President promised members of the
union.
According to him, government had always
failed in implementing agreements reached with ASUU. He said, “Truly the
President sat down for more than 13 hours with us. He told us that we
were not leaving the venue until the issues were resolved. The Federal
Government also promised to inject funds into the system, but a
promissory note is not enough.
“Where would the money come from? There
is no assurance that government will provide money especially with the
mop-up policy in place that ensures that unspent money is refunded to
government’s coffers at the end of every year.’’
Asked when the lecturers would call off
the strike, he 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?’’
He said the Federal Government should
spend the trillions of dollars in its Sovereign Wealth Fund to finance
university education and improve infrastructure in the country.
A key component of the agreement reached
by both ASUU and the Federal Government was that government would
inject N1.1trn into public universities in the next five years.
Government is expected to inject N220bn yearly into the public
university sector beginning from 2014. But government said it could
only release N100bn this year, noting that the amount had already been
processed.
The Federal Government also indicated
that the N1.1trn would be domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria to
show its commitment to the agreement. The money is expected to be
released on quarterly basis to the universities so that there won’t be
any problem about funding the deal.
The National Universities Commission and
the Trade Union Congress will be the joint guarantors of the agreement
while the Minister of Education will be the implementing officer.
Government, according to sources at the meeting, also agreed to revamp
public universities by ensuring that all the issues that always lead to
strike are dealt with once and for all.
Asked to confirm if lecturers were
planning to call off their strike, ASUU Chairman, University of Calabar
branch, Dr. James Okpiliya, said the local chapter was yet to get formal
briefing on the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.
He, however, said the union would make
its position known to the press on the President’s offer after the end
of a meeting scheduled for mid-night Thursday.
Also, Chairman of ASUU in Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Adegbola Akinola, said that members
must be properly briefed on the resolution between the Federal
Government and representatives of ASUU in the last marathon meeting.
He said the only condition that could make its members accept any offer would be the provision of necessary documents.
He said, “The NEC meeting may not hold
now. It is the local congress that is expected to hold first which is
either tomorrow or Monday.
“Our members are not yet briefed about
the details, so it is when we meet that we will know the details and
then discuss whether what we got is sufficient enough to justify our
action or demand.
“I can’t really pre-empt the mind of
other members. But if we are to accept any offer, there must be document
to back that up. We need to obtain documents on that. Maybe if there is
a document, people may look at it critically.”
However, the Federal Government said it
would include the N1.1trn promised ASUU in the education budget starting
from next year. It also said it was waiting for the union to know the
next step to take.
The Director, Press and Public Relations
of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Olu Lipide, told one of our
correspondents on Thursday that government was waiting for ASUU to take
the necessary steps.
Meanwhile, the Dean of Social Sciences,
University of Lagos, Prof. Omololu Soyombo, has said that the general
ASUU body must agree before the strike could be called off.
He said, “It is difficult to believe the
President but we give him the benefit of doubt. We believe that the
President is noble, the ASUU president promised to give him a feedback.
If this had been done earlier, the strike wouldn’t have extended for so
long.”
Corroborating his view, the Chairman,
Lagos State University, ASUU, Dr. Jamiu Oluwatoki said, “It won’t be
long again. By next week there should be a NEC meeting and subsequently
the congress meetings before the president can call off the strike.”
SOURCE: PUNCH
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