THE national leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday denied media reports that it snubbed the invitation extended to it by the Joint Committees on Education of the National Assembly to appear before them to resolve the disputes arising from the ongoing strike. The denial came as the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rose from its weekly meeting with a passionate appeal to the university teachers to call off their strike in the interest of Nigerian youths and education generally. Interior Minister, Abba Moro, during an interaction with State House Correspondents after the deliberations of the Council, said the government was concerned about the persistent disruptions in the academic calendars of the nation’s tertiary institutions and appealed to ASUU to call off its current strike to pave the way for meaningful dialogue. A statement in Abuja by the President of the Union, Dr. Nasir Isa Faggae, rather put the blame of their sudden departure from the National Assembly on shoddy handling of the exercise, which ought to have produced a lasting solution to the lingering non-implementation of the 2009 agreement the union entered into with government. Faggae’s clarification was in reaction to the claim that ASUU leadership walked out of the venue of the meeting with the National Assembly because of another meeting with the leaderships of academic unions of other tertiary institutions, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU). The lawmakers’ intervention was at the instance of the Ministry of Education. Ministers of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai and her Labour and Productivity counterpart, Emeka Nwogu reportedly attended the meeting. Moro told newsmen that FEC deliberated on the ongoing strike by ASUU and frowned at incessant strikes, calling for more interaction between government and teachers to stop the industrial action. “We believe that ASUU should find other means of reacting to issues rather than resorting to strike which is inimical to the progress of the education sector. “It affects the children, who now seek education in countries as small as Benin Republic which constitutes a waste of national assets.” Faggae claimed that ASUU received an invitation via a text message from the Deputy Clerk, Senate Committee on Education on July 3rd, 2013 to attend a meeting with the Senate Committee on Education. The meeting was slated for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at Meeting Room 323 of the National Assembly. It was rescheduled on Monday by the same official for 1p.m. on Tuesday at a different venue in the new Senate Building. He said: “On the day of the meeting, ASUU’s team led by the President arrived the National Assembly at 12:30 p.m. The team also comprised of three past presidents of the union, the vice- president and the legal officer. “When we arrived at the venue, there were only two attendees: One member of the House of Representatives and one Executive Secretary of a government parastatal. We were moved on three different occasions to different places in the room to sit. After we thought we had finally been allowed to sit down in the hall, we were again, for the fourth time, asked to move to another side of the hall. While we were waiting, other people, apparently invited to the same meeting, began to arrive. These included members of the Senate / House Committees on Education, members of ASUP, members of management of various Federal Government education boards. “At about 1.30 p.m., the ASUU team was asked by an official of the committee to leave the venue and go to the office of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education to wait. The official informed the ASUU team that it would be recalled in 15 minutes. The ASUU team obliged and went to the office of the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education to wait. “The ASUU team waited for one hour and it took the call of the President to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education before a piece of paper was sent by the Chairman requesting that we give them another 15 minutes to conclude their discussions with ASUP. The ASUU team obliged and continued to wait for another 30 minutes. “Finally, after waiting for two and a half hours without any firm indication that it would be attended to, the ASUU team decided at 3.30 p.m. to leave for another crucial meeting that had been pending since 3 p.m. On the way to the other meeting, the ASUU president called the chairman of the Senate Committee to brief him on the development and requested that another, earliest, date be fixed for the meeting. The Senate Committee Chairman on Education promised to do so. “As can be seen, ASUU not only honoured the invitation of the Committee, the team arrived on time, waited for two and half hours and eventually had to leave for another crucial meeting at 3.30 p.m.”
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:20:57 +0000
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