Senate president David Mark yesterday labelled the negotiators on the side of government on the contentious 2009 agreement with ASUU as ignorant. The development came just as the senators yesterday appealed to university lecturers who have been on strike for the past four months to suspend the strike and return to work to prevent further devaluation of the country’s educational fortunes. The Senate also mandated Mark to engage the president and the leadership of ASUU to bring the strike to an end The Senate authorised the Senate Committee on Education to continue to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission, the ASUU and all other relevant stakeholders to proffer lasting solutions to stem further strikes in the country. These were fallouts of the motion sponsored by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and 106 others entitled “Appeal to Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off their strike action and return to work”. In the contentious 2009 agreement, ASUU was said to have demanded N1.5trillion within a spate of three years from the federal government for funding of universities outside the normal yearly budgetary allocation. Aside the N1.5 trillion funds for universities from 2009-2011, ASUU was said to have also demanded allowance outside its conventional monthly emoluments which encompasses allowances like injury and excess work load. Senate president Mark said when he saw the document he was wondering if it was an agreement or a proposal, noting that the people who signed the document on behalf of the government were ignorant and ASUU took advantage of the ignorance of the negotiators. Senator Mark also pointed out that statements credited to minister of state for education Wike that the strike would be resolved in a few months was insensitive, adding that the problems should have been tackled yesterday and people should desist from making inflammatory statement. He also added that government should not be reneging on agreements and the national development of the country should be hinged on education, not oil. Marl said: “My appeal on behalf of the Senate is that both ASUU and the federal government should be ready to shift ground and not just stand on their current positions over the matter which would not do anybody any good and even any one of them any good. “I want to beg ASUU in particular, on behalf of the Senate, to, in line with our resolution here today, suspend its four-month-old strike in the interest of the students and in fact our dear country whose education sector is at the verge of collapse as a result of this strike and other associated problems. “For those who negotiated on behalf of the federal government with ASUU in October 2009, the facts made available to us today by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Uche Chukwumeje, showed that they are people who do not know their right from their left and, in the process, put the federal government into the problem it is facing today, because when the agreements were read out I thought they were mere proposals, only for Chukwumereje to confirm that they signed the largely un-implementable agreements characterized by payment of all manner of allowances.” In his remarks, Senator Olusola Adeyeye (Osun, APC), also a professor, chided ASUU, saying that most of their demands are not applicable in any part of the world. “You can tell the future of a nation by the state of the schools, and the state of schools in the country is pathetic,” he said. “Where else in the world do you pay for examination allowance? Is that not the job of the lecturers? You pay for postgraduate project supervision: is that not the job of the professors?” Senator Abdul Ningi said: “There was an agreement and it was signed by both parties in 2009. We must accept agreement even if it has gaps; it’s a moral duty to know once an agreement is reached and signature is appended the agreement becomes binding.” Senator Bello Tukur (Adamawa, PDP) said the money ASUU is requesting is not too much considering the amount of money spent on SURE P and fuel subsidy and these programmes can be suspended to attend to the needs of ASUU.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:46:50 +0000
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