No Quick Fix to ASUU Strike The future of university education in the country is in jeopardy, as the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities call off their negotiations Over two months after the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, embarked on an indefinite strike to compel the federal government to implement part of the 2009 agreement reached between both sides, indications are that both sides are far from agreeing on the terms of settling the dispute. The negotiation to end the strike, which has entered the tenth week, appears to have reached a dead end, as government’s negotiation team and representatives of the academic union have abandoned the process in protest. Two days after President Goodluck Jonathan directed the federal government’s negotiating team to take all the necessary steps to ensure a quick resolution of the dispute, ASUU pulled out of the negotiation, alleging insincerity on the part of government. The government negotiation team expressed displeasure over the stance of ASUU, which it accused of refusing to yield ground despite all the offers made to them by government. But that was not their only reason. They also alleged that the opposition have infiltrated the ranks of the academic union to frustrate government’s efforts. The committees maintained that the involvement of the opposition in the negotiation, which they believe was responsible for ASUU’s refusal to accept government offers, was “extremely frustrating.” The federal government had offered the striking lecturers, N100 billion to pacify them and get them back to the classrooms. Announcing the offer recently, Gabriel Suswam, chairman of one of the two government committees in the negotiation and governor of Benue State, said government had approved the N100 billion to his committee to address infrastructure deficit in all the 61 universities in the country. But ASUU felt insulted by the offer and rejected it on the ground that it fell short of their demands, which were documented in the agreement and memorandum of understanding, MoU both parties signed in 2009 and 2012. Having concluded that the federal government was not committed to keeping its own part of the bargain, the lecturers dusted their bags and quit the negotiation table. ASUU’s contention is that the distribution of N100 billion to universities by government was a half-hearted measure that would not tackle the monumental and myriads of problems facing the university education in the country. Nasir Fagge, national president of ASUU, said the money was not part of the previous agreements reached by government and the lecturers. According to Fagge, the MoU signed by the two parties in 2012 came about following the failure of government to implement the 2009 agreement and its subsequent plea for understanding from ASUU. In the 2009 agreement, which was a consolidation of previous unfulfilled agreements, there were nine terms, one of which stipulated that within three years, government should make available N1.5 trillion to federal universities. Further simplification of this would amount to about N500 billion per annum. Interestingly, however, only two terms of the agreement, which were the reinstatement of university governing councils in the federal universities and the extension of retirement age for professors to 70 years, have been implemented. Two years after the agreement, government was yet to inject the N1.5 trillion into the university system and there was no sign that it would honour the agreement in the near future. Apparently feeling betrayed, the union embarked on a nationwide strike in December 2011 to draw the attention of government to the agreement. Expectedly, the federal government responded with a negotiation idea that eventually engendered the MoU they both signed. In the MoU, it was agreed that rather than the initial N1.5 trillion, government should provide N1.3 trillion in four years for federal and state universities, following its claims that it could not implement the previous agreement. Perhaps to show how committed it was, government also set up a committee to assess the needs of the universities. Having concluded its findings, the committee in its technical report, recommended that government should as a matter of urgency, provide N800 billion to universities for use within two years. Interestingly, a year after the MoU was signed on January 2012, government was yet to honour it, resulting in ASUU’s decision to embark on the current strike on July 2. Some critics have condemned the federal government for refusing to honour the terms of agreements it willingly signed. They argue that such a development, which has resulted in the halting of the engine of the university education in the country, was uncalled for, especially with the amount of money wasted by government on lesser important issues. Students too are weary of the current impasse because it may alter the academic calendar and elongate their stay in school. Raphael Onwumere, a Mass Communication undergraduate of University of Lagos, said the strike is a drawback to his academic pursuit. But even of more concern to him is the fact that some students, within the period of staying out of school, may be lured away from their books into irrelevant things, which he said may affect their academic performance. But critics of ASUU say the union is “insensitive” to the plights of students. While the federal government might not have met their demands, Kayode Oladimeji, a student, said ASUU should have accepted what was offered and call off the strike in the interest of students and the university education in Nigeria. THE TELL MAGAZINE Short URL: osundefender.org/?p=119497
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 22:52:26 +0000
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