Varsity Strike: ASUU Bauchi Zone Lashes Ngige, You’re A Failure!

• Demands Buhari’s intervention

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, BAUCHI – Bauchi Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has lashed out at the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige for failing woefully to resolve contentious issues and finally end the nine months lingering crisis in the nation’s university system.

According to the Union, the Minister’s lack of capacity and questionable negotiation skills are largely responsible for the prolonged strike.

ASUU has therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently intervene and cause the strike to end if indeed the Federal Government has the students and Nigerians’ interest at heart.

Coordinator of ASUU, Bauchi zone, Professor Lawan Abubakar declared the Zone’s position in Gombe on Thursday at a press conference shortly after its meeting held at the Gombe State University.

He said Ngige has failed woefully in promoting government’s efforts at ending the nine months old strike, adding that series of meetings, engagements and contacts between the ASUU leadership and Federal Government officials have not yielded desired results because the Minister and Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Alhaji Ahmed Idris have continued to throw spanners in the wheel of progress of concerted efforts aimed at amicable resolution of the impasse.

While accusing the Minister of exhibiting all manner of antics and insisting that Government does not have enough funds to educate its citizens, Prof Abubakar said the AGF on his part is “greedily and selfishly” looking only at the gains from N16,000 per each academic staff enrolment on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform.

He also dismissed insinuations that the strike action is all about salary increment, saying government has continuously failed to implement several agreements, MoU’s, MoA’s meant to rehabilitate and improve learning conditions in the 93 public universities in the country.

“There was a truce between ASUU and Federal Government that led to the suspension of an ASUU strike on the 7th February 2019 called the FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) which collapsed and led to the current strike.

“The responsibility for such a collapse rests squarely on Dr Chris Ngige. The Minister simply went to sleep and failed to manage the MoA and worst still has not deemed it right to accept this failure and apologize to Nigerians for such mess”, the ASUU Zonal Coordinator said

Prof Abubakar said Ngige’s recent claims that government does not have money to give ASUU N110 billion and they would explore other options to end the strike if the Union remains adamant is an insult on Nigerians

“Let me first of all clarify that the N110 billion is not for ASUU. It is for the rehabilitation of the 93 public Universities in Nigeria for now. What will the N20 billion promised by government through Ngige do to 93 Universities? Are they going to buy groundnuts? How would Federal Government provide N37 billion for the rehabilitation of the National Assembly last year and only N20 billion for 93 Universities this year? How can the public believe that the Federal Government does not have money to fund the rehabilitation of 93 Universities but still raising N389b to prosecute Boko Haram in 2021?”, he queried.

The Union Leader said the Zone is not taking the insult lightly because for Ngige to assume that the strike would end this week without any concrete offers indicate he has a sinister motion against ASUU struggle, adding; “We are strategically, tactically and physically ready for such sinister move.”

“The 2019 MoA has not been honoured and by implication the 2017 MoA. Also, the 2013 MoU and the 2009 agreement have not been honoured let alone implemented. The strike is not all about salary payment and payment platforms as government is attempting to reduce it to”, he said.

He however urged students, parents, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the general public to keep faith and join forces with ASUU to emancipate the Nigerian public University system by insisting that government commit needed resources to adequately fund the sector.

ASUU Bauchi zone comprises University of Jos; Bauchi State University; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi; Gombe State University; Plateau State University; and Federal University Kashere, Gombe State