The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has commenced an indefinite nationwide strike due to the Federal Government’s failure to fulfil the 2009 agreement made with the union.
President of the Union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, who stated this at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday (today), said the decision was taken at ASUU’s emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, August 12.
Ogunyemi said with the industrial action fully in place, “there shall be no teaching, no examination and no attendance of statutory meetings of any kind in any of our branches till government meets the union’s demands.”
Declaring that the industrial action took effect from Sunday, August 13, the ASUU President said, “The foundation of development of any nation lies on its attention to education. No nation can grow beyond the level of its educational development.
“Any genuine move to transform Nigeria into an economically viable and politically stable country must begin with a firm commitment to an all-round transformation of the country’s education.”
According to him, “ASUU has been vociferous on the primacy of the university education system because it is the repository of ideas for invention, innovation and national transformation.
“It is, however, disappointing that despite the prime importance of university education, the political class in Nigeria has continued to pay mere lip-service to addressing to lose the little gains achieved from the struggles of ASUU.’’
He said the Wale Babalakin-led committee set up by the Federal Government lacked the powers to resolve the issue as there were unimplemented items in the 2009 agreement, noting, that government had ignored the system while the political class had also shifted attention to sending their wards to private universities and universities abroad leaving public universities in Nigeria to collapse.
The Union President said, “Among the issues in current disputes involved in the 2009 agreement and 2013 MOU are funding for the revitalisation of public universities and earned academic allowances”, adding that, “Others include registration of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO), University staff school, fractionalisation and non-payment of salaries.’’
Ogunyemi, however, called on all patriots to prevail on owners of public universities to be alive to their responsibilities, adding that Nigerian university system should be given the attention they deserve.
NAN recalls that in January, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a 16-man committee, headed by Dr Wale Babalakin, to renegotiate the 2009 Federal Government agreement with the staff unions in the Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
The Federal Government’s decision to inaugurate the Babalakin-led body was informed by the need to engender sustainable peace and industrial harmony in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
