BY SANI ALIYU,Zaria
Academic Staff Union of Universities ,(ASUU) Kano Zone said over the past four years, public universities have been in a state of industrial disharmony,
leading to two costly and avoidable
strike actions.
Professor Abdulkadir Muhammad
Coordinator, ASUU, Kano Zone who made this known in a Press release made available to newsmen on Tuesday.
He said, the nation had high hopes and expectations that President Tinubu-led administration would swiftly resolve the contending issues that led to those strike actions.
However, these hopes have been
disappointingly dashed, resulting in
seething discontents among our
members whose patience has been
overstretched.
The leadership of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities has
made several concerted efforts to
dialogue with government officials,
including the President, with a
view to addressing the outstanding
issues in the agreement and the
various memoranda signed between
the Union and the Federal Government.
Unfortunately, the Tinubu’s administration, like the
Buhari’s, has been unyielding.
According to him, the nonchalant attitude of the administration to their legitimate and reasonable demands compelled the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU, following wide consultations, to convene a meeting at the University of Ibadan from 17th to 18th August, 2024, where it exhaustively deliberated on the contending issues and resolved to give a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government of Nigeria to address them.
This ultimatum was duly communicated to the government through the Minister of Education via a letter dated 20th August, 2024.
For the avoidance of doubt, the issues in contentions are Conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU
Agreement, by breviewing and signing the Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021.
“Release of three-and-a-half months
withheld salaries that the Federal
Government has been owing our
members since 2022”.
“Release of the unpaid salaries for
staff on sabbatical, part-time, and
adjunct appointments affected by
the Integrated Payroll and personnel Information System (IPPIS)” .
“Release of outstanding third-party
deductions, such as check-off
dues and cooperative contributions”.
Funding for the revitalization of
public universities, partly captured
in the 2023 national budget
The Union said Non-payment of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), partly captured in the 2023 national budget.
Non-Payment of promotion arrears
to deserving academic staff, some as
per back as 2016.
Non-implementation of the reports
of visitation panels to federal
universities.
Refusal to deploy the University
Transparency and Accountability
Solution(UTAS) software as a
replacement for IPPIS.
Proliferation of universities by
Federal and State Governments.
Non-implementation of the 25/35%
wage award to state universities.
Three weeks after the expiration of
the 21-day ultimatum, the Federal
Government has not demonstrated
any genuine commitment to address
the issues in contention.
The failure of the FG to meet the monetary and non-monetary demands of the Union is brewing industrial
disharmony in Nigeria ’s public Universities.
The Federal Executive Council’s
directive to remove all federal
tertiary institutions from the IPPIS,
an obnoxious and corruption-ridden
payment platform, has been
mischievously ignored without any
repercussions.
Also, the EAA and revitalization funds, which were duly captured in the 2023 budget, are yet to be released to the
beneficiary institutions,although the
implementation of the 2023 budget
has been extended to December
2024.
It is worrisome that the Federal Government has kept making empty promises, exhibiting a non-committal attitude and deploying delay tactics, thus fanning the ambers of crisis inour public
universities.
Paucity of funds has always been
the alibi government uses to rationalize its failure to implement some of the agreed demands of our union.
The government’s claim of insufficient funds can not be substantiated based on the information available to ASUU.
Sheer lack of political will, not paucity of funds, explains the government’s failure to address these demands.
Two years ago, ASUU made concerted efforts — through notices, emissaries (involving religious and traditional rulers), and even warnings — to avoid strike action. Alas, all these were ignored.
Consequently, ASUU had no option
but to resume its strike suspended
in 2020. We are exactly in a similar
situation.
However, the Tinubu’s administration has a golden opportunity to avoid the impending industrial crisis by resolving the contentious issues amicably.
ASUU-Kano Zone urges all patriotic
Nigerians to prevail on the
government to faithfully implement
the outstanding issues in our
agreement and memoranda. It is our
hope that addressing these issues will
go along way in repositioning
Nigerian public universities for global competitiveness.
The Union recalled that the year 2024 has been designated as the African Union Year of Education while Nigerian ruling class has been paying lip services to public education, which they benefited from in their formative years.
ASUU has given the Federal Government additional 14 days to resolve the lingering issues, the renegotiation of the
2009 FGN /ASUU Agreement,
payment of withheld salaries, release
of revitalization fund, migrating
Nigerian public universities from the
IPPIS to UTAS and payment of
EAA.
