Govt Committee Appeals to ASUU for Flexibility on Agreement ASUU •Seeks cooperation to eradicate illiteracy Damilola Oyedele The Chairman of the Implementation Committee on the Needs Assessment of Universities and Governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswan, has appealed to members of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to shift grounds on their demand for 100 per cent implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement. He also disclosed that the disbursement of the N100 billion infrastructure intervention fund to the 51 benefiting universities was already concluded, adding that all the councils had commenced procurement processes ahead of the awards of contracts for rehabilitation and construction of infrastructure. Speaking with THISDAY through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Dr. Cletus Akwaya, Suswam reiterated that the committee had no hand in the procurement process. "This committee appeals to the lecturers, now that government has started work on the infrastructure in the universities, they should shift ground and return to work while the processes continue," he said. Suswam lamented that ASUU was insisting on 100 per cent implementation of the 2009 agreement, which he noted could not be done by fiat as there were processes to be followed. He gave the assurance that more funds would be raised and allocated for the interventions next year to ensure that the rehabilitation of the institutions is a continuous process. This way, the infrastructure deficit would be addressed in a couple of years, Suswan said. In a related development, based on the distribution chart obtained by THISDAY, the University of Ibadan (UI) received the biggest allocation from the N100 billion intervention fund with an allocation of N3.25 billion, while the Osun State University received the lowest allocation of N350 million. The strike embarked upon by ASUU is now in its third month. Meanwhile, the federal government has appealed to the other tiers of government to redouble their efforts to eradicate illiteracy in Nigeria. The Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, while speaking at a press conference to mark the 2013 International Literary Day, said efforts to eradicate the scourge should not be left in the hands of the federal government alone especially as the scourge is prevalent at the grassroots. He lamented that Nigeria had been discovered to have over 10 million out of school children, which has made the ministry to intensify its efforts. "It is important to note that the bulk of the task of eradicating illiteracy in most of the E-9 countries like India, China, Brazil, and Indonesia among others is borne by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The era of leaving such sensitive issues of our national life entirely in the hands of government is gone," Wike said
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 05:50:33 +0000
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