The Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, has threatened to go on strike because the Federal
Government had not shown commitment to carrying out the 2019 Memorandum of
Action.
This was made known by the
ASUU National President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, during a briefing in Abuja
on the ongoing renegotiation with the government and to clear the air over the
N25billion confirmed by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to have been
approved for universities.
According to Ogunyemi, the
N25billion was meant to be a part-payment of the Earned Academic Allowances and
should have been released between February 15 and 28, 2019, as agreed.
He said:
“Since information on the
amounts mentioned in the media went round, the ASUU has been inundated with
enquiries on the union’s perspective to the story. Funding for the
revitalisation of public universities has for years been of very high priority
to ASUU.
“Reaching an agreement with
the Federal Government has often been a frustrating journey for our union. It
is often marked with protests, strikes and requires a conscious and focused
engagement. The 2001 agreement, which gave birth to the 2009 agreement, was not
an exemption. The exception here is the personality leading the government
negotiation team. The current leadership of the government team clearly lacks
the academic disposition and humility needed to undertake such task.
“Our members enjoy their
work and hate to see any disruption in the smooth running of our universities.
However, the level of frustration occasioned by the lackadaisical attitude of
the government towards meeting the terms of the 2019 Memorandum of Action that
was freely signed with our union is increasingly becoming unbearable.
“We, therefore, call on all
Nigerian patriots, parents and students including the Nigeria Labour Congress
to prevail on the government to keep to the terms of our agreement. Otherwise,
our union should not be held responsible for any disruption in the system.
No comments:
Post a Comment