Update Striking ASUU and National Assembly trade blame over botched meeting Posted by Bennie Iferi The rift between the Academic Staff Universities Union (ASUU) and the federal government, which has culminated in the ongoing strike by the university teachers, deepened on Tuesday as the union shunned a mediation meeting initiated by the National Assembly. The leadership of the union boycotted the scheduled talks with the Joint Committee on Education of the Senate and House of Representatives, raising concerns that the strike, which began July 1, may degenerate into a prolonged industrial action that may last months. The lecturers accuse the federal government of again reneging on an agreement both parties reached since 2009 over unpaid entitlements. The meeting at the National Assembly was attended by the Minister of Education, Rukayat Rufai, and Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu; as well as members of the various legislative committees. It came as the lawmakers also met separately with representatives of polytechnic lecturers – the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) – who have been on strike since April 28. Uche Chukwumerije announced a reschedule of the meeting. Chairman of Senate Committee on Education, Uche Chukwumerije, announced a reschedule of the meeting with ASUU after the lawmakers were informed that the union officials could not wait for the committee to wrap up its talks with the polytechnic lecturers. We did not shun NASS – ASUU In its own reaction, the Academic Staff Union of Universities strongly refuted the allegation that boycotted the meeting. In a phone interview with Nigerian Telegraph, former President of ASUU, Professor Festus Iyayi, stated that contrary to reports that the Union had shunned the members of the National Assembly, the members of the Union arrived for the meeting on time, and were made to wait for over three hours without being seen by members of the Government delegation. Prof. Iyayi was at pains to point out that they arrived at the meeting at the agreed time and were kept waiting for hours. According to Iyayi, the ASUU delegation was eventually forced to leave the National Assembly in order to have a meeting with Persons of Influence. He expressed dismay at the reports that the Union walked out on the National Assembly, and stated that the union had a lot of respect for duly constituted authority. NASS meets ASUP The joint committee however succeeded in prodding the aggrieved polytechnic lecturers to resume work after about 70 days. The National President of ASUP, Chibuzor Asomugha, said the polytechnic lecturers would do what is necessary to call off the strike as soon as possible. “We will try to do anything within our ambit and do the biddings over the National Assembly,” Mr. Asomugha said. Earlier, Rufai had pleaded with the lecturers to return to work in the interest of nation promising that the federal government will not relent in efforts to address their grievances. Some of the issues in contention are “non-migration of members at the lower cadres on CONTISS 15 salary scale; release of white paper on the visitation panel to federal polytechnics; non-commencement of needs assessment of Nigerian polytechnics; troubling state of state-owned polytechnics/monotechnics; and continued appointment of unqualified persons as rectors by some state governments.”
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 22:59:21 +0000
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