Salary Paid, We rescued Nigeria’s education from Bretton-Woods’ jugular grip - ASUU

Academic Staff Union of Universities has said that it fought hard in 2013 to salvage the Nigerian education system from the “jugular grip of Bretton-Woods institutions,” vowing to consolidate on the gains of its struggles in 2014.

President of ASUU, Dr Nasir Isa Fagge, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday said the union would not relent on the vigorous pursuit for the implementation of all areas of the agreement reached with the Federal Government.

ASUU had on July 1, 2013 embarked on a protracted strike over failure of the Federal Government to implement key elements of the 2009 Agreement reached with the union. The over five months old strike was eventually called off on December 17, 2013 after it signed a fresh Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government detailing implementation process of the agreement.

One of the positive outcomes of the face-off was the release of N200 billion by the Federal Government for infrastructural development in public universities as well as the release of N40 billion for payment of Academic Earned Allowance to the lecturers.
In the same vein, the Federal Government has inaugurated a 12-man implementation monitoring committee, headed by the Supervising Minister of Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities, as part of agreement reached with ASUU.

But ASUU President yesterday said the struggle was not yet over until the Federal Government begins to do the right thing in order to place Nigeria’s educational system on sound footing.
Fagge said a significant increase in budgetary allocation to the education sector would be pursued in 2014 to achieve UNESCO’s 26 per cent recommendation.

He added that the union would also follow-up on its agreement with the government concerning the welfare of lecturers to ensure implementation and industrial harmony.
According to him, the union will also convene a National Summit on Education to x-ray the problems of the sector and proffer solutions.
He said: “There will be a general improvement in the quality and access to education at all levels for the Nigerian citizens.

“2014 is the year in which, if we all do our bit as required, a foundation to genuine national development will be laid through the production of quality manpower at all levels for our dear country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Segun Ajiboye, the Chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, has described the payment of lecturers’ five-month salary arrears by the Federal Government as encouraging.
Ajiboye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan that the Federal Government had with this started implementing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached with the union.
“It is encouraging that the salary arrears have been paid to members, and I believe this cuts across board,” he said.