ASUU Strike Update : FG Releases Another N30 billion
ASUU Strike Update – 04/09/2013 – ASUU may call of strike soon as the Federal Government has announced the release of another 30 billion Naira to ASUU. Governor Gabrien Suswan disclosed this today (Tuesday). He also said government is close to meeting ASUU’s demands. Hopes of calling off the strike now looks brighter. What do you think?
Read the Update on ASUU Strike as reported by Daily Post:
The Federal Government has on Tuesday declared that an additional 30 billion naira has been released to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, claiming that it is at the verge of meeting almost all the demands of the University lecturers.
Disclosing this development to newsmen, Gabriel Suswam, Chairman of the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) assessment implementation committee for universities, asserted that the Ministry of Education would disburse the fund to various universities across the country for the settlement of lecturers’ allowances.
In his appeal to ASUU to consider the plight of the students and that of the government, Mr. Suswam faulted the union’s earlier claims that the N100 billion disbursed to the Union by the government for infrastructures in universities was without due and prior consultations.
The ASUU leadership had last week expressed concerns that a clear modus operandi for assessing the funds released for the universities was yet to be stated by the government.
Meanwhile, ASUU President, Nasir Fagge has continued to hold on to his position that anything short of N500 billion would not meet the immediate needs of the universities.
“We observe that the Committee is so far mentioning only N100 billion. If the implementation is to be related to the funding requirements in the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement and the January 2012 MoU, what is due for 2012 and 2013 is N500 billion, not N100 billion,” Mr. Fagge had said.
Mr. Suswam has however refuted claims of the Academic body, affirming that they were carried along in the entire process where N100 billion was agreed.
He said, “ASUU participated in all the meetings where it was agreed to raise N100 billion, which has already been distributed to all the universities,”
“In fact, the president of ASUU nominated one Dr. Baffa, who is very resourceful. He did all the work, and presented the criteria for distribution of the money which is based on the population of each university,” Mr. Suswam added.
Suswan further clarified that the draft of the document was earlier sent to ASUU for scrutiny by the Committee and wondered where the complaint was coming from.
“Instead, they wrote me a letter accusing the committee of insincerity. The councils are the ones that would verify what we are owing, go and ask them, ASUU said no, that unless we put N92 billion on the table,” Mr. Suswam said.
Suswam warned the lecturers to stop blackmailing the government with their protest as the strike was almost going political.
Recall that President Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet members, especially, the Minister of Finance and Education have been at the receiving end since the strike action commenced. Even though the presidency has allayed fear that the agreement which was signed under a different administration would have adverse effect on the nation’s economy, President Jonathan has accepted to bear responsibility for the ongoing strike action and has appealed to the aggrieved lecturers to go back to classroom while the negotiation continues, or better still make a reasonable attempt at shifting ground.
With several appeals from the government and other well meaning Nigerians on the need for the Academic body to resume work, many Nigerians are of the opinion that ASUU would have relaxed its decision and consider the ongoing nationwide appeal.
The Strike will not be call off.
ASUU Strike is not all about allowance, it is about giving Nigerian student a decent learning environment. Decent lecture hall, hostels, laboratories, well equipped engineering workshops etc.
In the midst of all the propaganda being bandied about and the misinformation swirling around in internet forums in respect of the ASUU strike, certain truths stand out:
a) The FG acknowledged in 2009 that universities were grossly underfunded, that their infrastructure were dilapidated and in dire need of intervention, and that lecturers were teaching and examining bloated classes and logging in excess work hours for which they deserved, but were not paid, due allowances.
b) To adress these anomalies, the FG and ASUU, after lengthy negotiations, signed an agreement in 2009. This agreement was not implemented, and throughout 2010 and 2011 ASUU made several appeals to all segments of society in a bid to persuade the FG to implement the said agreement.
c) Finally, after hundreds of appeal letters, courtesy visits, and press conferences, all of which failed to make any impression on government, lecturers embarked on a strike in December 2011. As a result of the strike, Government called for another round of negotiations and signed an MOU on January 24, 2012, detailing ways in which it would immediately set about implementing the 2009 agreement. Consequently, lecturers suspended their strike.
d) In the 2009 agreement, Government pledged to provide a total of N1.5 trillion spread over three years(2009-2011) to address the infrastructural rot and decay in the universities. Needless to say, this money was never provided. With the coming of the MOU, Government promised “to stimulate the process of revitalising” the system, an intervention which would be built up to a yearly sum of N400 billion “in the next three years” (2013-2015) . Thus, by the MOU, the Government was supposed to provide N400 billion YEARLY. So, a unilateral grant of N100 million for infrastructure is an aberration and is outside the provisions of the ASUU/FGN Agreement.
e) Note that as part of the MOU, the FG set up a NEEDS Assessment Team. This team toured the nation and found that at one of the biggest universities in the north one toilet serves more than 500 students, and in many others, students receive lectures under trees, while many university libraries are largely stocked with books published in the 1970s and 1980s, and laboratories lack the most basic equipment; among other amazing findings.
e) As at today, the provisions of the agreement imply that Government is indebted to all staff of federal universities – note, all staff – to the tune of about N92 billion, an amount that represents their legitimately earned allowances for the past four years. Therefore, the unilateral grant of N30 billion, in lieu of earned allowances, is at best a donation on the part of Government and is outside the Agreement.
f) Given this state of affairs, is it reasonable to ask the lecturers to call off their strike?
Wow! That’s lengthy, thanks for sharing with us.
ASUU Y NA
C ole dem o which decent environment dem one give dem go only share d money among demselves so y keep us at home while asuu negotiate a way to get bigger tummies greedy things “for d good of d schools my foot rubbish”
spits on dem nd walks away disgusted
Mr Anonymous! You have clearly spoken out your ignorant mind. The way and manner you speak is exactly why ASUU strike must continue to hold so that people like you will have a better environment to study and relax in the end. Hopefully, afterwards your problem-barricaded medulla oblongata will begin to get some fresh oxygen to listen, think and learn.
u took time to present d issues but the govt is not only indebted to federal universities but all public tertiary institutions in Nigeria!