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Tag: Ade Adejumo

  • ASUU alleges FG plans to force N350,000 tuition fee on varsity students

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday revealed that the Federal Government is already concluding arrangements to force students in public universities in the country to pay atleast N350, 000 tuition fees per session

    The Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Dr. Ade Adejumo, raised the alarm when he addressed journalists at the Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State council, Ibadan.

    Adejumo was accompanied by the union’s chairmen from University of Ibadan, Dr. Deji Omole; Osun State University, Dr. Femi Abanikanda; and Investment Secretary of ASUU in UI, Prof Ayo Akinwole.

    He noted that, the vehement objection of the union to the proposed tuition fees, actually led to the collapse of 2017/2018 Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, adding “the union is again constrained to draw the attention of Nigerian public to an impending labour crisis in the Nigerian universities as a result of the insensitivity and non-challance of the Nigerian government to issues critical to the survival of the educational system in Nigeria.”

    Giving a background to the crisis, Adejumo said, when the 2009 agreement was overdue for renegotiation, the Federal Government set up a team, led by Dr. Wale Babalakin to renegotiate with the union.

    He said, “It is no longer news that the renegotiation, which Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, promised was going to last for only six weeks, has broken down.

    “The reason for this very unfortunate development will appall most Nigerians. First, the leader of government team, who was supposed to be an arbiter between the parties, assumed an arrogant attitude that sought to foist a predetermined mindset of government on the union.

    Read Also: ASUU kicks against education bank

    “The union was confronted with a situation where government is bent on imposing tuition fees, beginning from N350,000 on students in the Nigerian public owned tertiary institutions.

    “On the question as to how the students will raise such money, the answer that government has is that it will establish an Education Bank, where students will, access credit facilities and pay back on completion of their studies.

    “The union, speaking from the background that education is the right and not privilege of every Nigerian child, made frantic efforts to make pragmatic explanations on the negative implications and the non-feasibility of this scheme to representatives of government to no avail.”

    According to ASUU, the leader of the government team, Babalakin, has not dropped the proposed new tuition regime, vowing that the union would resist such outrageous tuition. The union described the development as a ploy to deprive poor masses of their rights to education, saying if the Education Bank is established, many students would not be able to access loans. Adejumo further stated that the move was an agenda of some foreign bodies to continually enslave Nigerians, especially the poor ones.

    The Ibadan zonal coordinator of ASUU, recalled that the union, “after all avenues to seek the attention of government failed, went on a warning strike in 2017 to press home some demands. At the point at which the warning strike was suspended, our union signed a Memorandum of Action (MOA) with government. The summary of issues in the MOA point to some actionable tasks on the side of government and the union, aimed at redeeming the parlous state of educational sector in the country.

    “Unfortunately, we are now back to where we started with the Federal Government’s failure to implement the agreements reached with our union in the MOA.”

    Adejumo stated further that the government has always agreed that the condition in the Nigeria University “is a serious state that needs urgent intervention. As a result, government agreed to pay a quarterly intervention N20billion into a dedicated account at the Central Bank of Nigeria to pilot the revitalization scheme. Unexpectedly, government has refused to pay the said amount which has now accrued to N2trillion.

    “Instead of releasing the fund that will address the infrastructural deficit in Nigerian universities as agreed, government went to the media last week that it has given N20billion to ASUU! This propaganda of government is unhelpful as ASUU is a union and does not collect money from government.”

    Adejumo said some of the other issues that might force ASUU to go on strike are non-release of the forensic report on the disbursement of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) covering the period of 2009 to 2017 to members, failure to pay arrears of shortfall in accrued salaries in universities that have been verified under Presidential Initiative on Continuous Auditing (PICA), failure to release operational licence to National Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO), and needless proliferation of state universities.

     

  • ASUU raises alarm of LAUTECH facing imminent collapse

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised an alarm over imminent collapse of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

    The union accused the two-owner state, Oyo and Osun, of not funding the university.

    At a press conference in Osogbo, Osun State capital, the Zonal Coordinator, Ibadan Zone of ASUU, Dr. Ade Adejumo, if the university would not cease to exist urgent and serious steps must be taken to rescue the institution.

    Expressing sadness over inadequate funding of the university by the two states, he lamented that the action of the Oyo and Osun governments has showed that they want the management of the institution to source for fund to run the institution.

    He maintained that increasing tuition fee will definitely force poor students out of the school and the implication is that they would be forced into prostitution, armed robbery and other crimes.

    He said: “We are currently on two weeks warning strike. We are calling attention to the fact that LAUTECH is on the brink of final disintegration.

    “We are not so much concerned about almost 10 months arrears, promotion arrears, we are concerned about non-funding of the University. It is no longer inadequate funding, it is non-funding.”

    Read Also: LAUTECH expels students over union election violence

    The union leader, who noted that the Memorandum of Action (MoA) the two owner states signed before the union’s last strike was called off has not been respected by the government.

    He alleged that the governors of the two states have turned their back on the university

    According to the union “Many lecturers have left while many have retired. And there has not been replacement for those who have left, therefore, making the institution understaffed.

    “So, we are calling on the governors of Oyo and Osun to let the general public know if they are tired and could no longer fund the university. The two governors are encouraging criminalities by insisting that they survive on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    “They should come out and disclose their plans for LAUTECH. If they want to liquidate the university they should be bold enough to tell the whole world that they want to do so.”

  • ‘Non payment of salaries will deepen corruption’

    The Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that non-payment of salaries to workers and university lecturers will deepen corruption and heighten security tensions in the country when students are sent home owing to strikes.

    The Zone lashed out at the failure of the Oyo and Osun States’ government over their failure to pay 10months salary arrears and their defaulting over statutory function to Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso.

    ASUU said that strike currently on in the LAUTECH branch may become full blown if the governments fail to address their demands within the duration of the warning strike.

    The bone of contention is that the owner states refused to fund the University and this has led to 10months unpaid salaries, non-payment of earned academic allowances, pension and gratuity and National Health Insurance Schemes.

    The Ladoke Akintola University had on Thursday proceeded on two weeks warning strike over non-payment of 10months salary arrears by the two owner states and the refusal to fund the university.

    Read Also: ‘Lagos not paying religious scholars salaries’

    A release signed by the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Dr Ade Adejumo said allowing the university workers to proceed on another round of strikes would put the progress of the institution on hold and expose the students to crime and criminality.

    Adejumo who maintained that it was the height of irresponsibility and insensitivity on the part of the governors of Osun and Oyo to attend to the financial needs of the institution.”

    The lecturers had to put on hold the first semester examination of the 2017/2018 session put the academic session a shaky and uncertain future.

    The chairman of ASUU LAUTECH Dr. Biodun Olaniran had maintained that while the lecturers had the interest of the students at heart, it is becoming practically impossible to be responsible parents to their families while their children needs are largely unmet.

    ASUU said the union had communicated the governments on the Memorandum of Action before suspending the 10 months strike last year on the need not to renege on the agreement while government continues to beg the question.

    “It is total corruption to deliberately create conditions that will make people vulnerable to crime and criminality. Why will government not pay people and be expecting them to work. Which of the governors is not getting paid and receiving security votes? If workers are coming to work for ten months without pay, a reasonable government should be worried about how the people are coping and surviving rather than think everything is normal. This warning strike is to alert the public of an impending full blown total strike if the government refuses to accede to the request of the ASUU members,” he stated.

  • LAUTECH: ASUU Suspends Strike

    LAUTECH: ASUU Suspends Strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the  Ladoke Akintola University of Technology has suspended its four-months-long strike after a meeting with its members at the university’s main campus in Ogbomoso on Tuesday.

    This will be the second time the academic staff union will be suspending its strike which has spanned, at least, two years.

    The Secretary of ASUU LAUTECH Dr. Abegunrin, and the union’s Zonal Coordinator Dr. Ade Adejumo, confirmed that the strike had been suspended  immediate effect but academic activities will kick off on Monday, October 23.

    “The zone will have to be briefed, national will have to be briefed, but the Congress have suspended the strike in principle as from today but full lectures will resume on Monday,” Dr. Adejumo said. “Skeletal things will continue, preparatory to the commencement of full academic activities on Monday.”

    Read : Lecturers, others begin warning strike in Otuoke varsity

     The suspension is coming following news that the lecturers started receiving their three-months’ salary arrears — one of their demands for resumption — during the weekend.

    Over the months, there had been numerous resumption dates which the lecturers ignored. First, the university management widely publicised September 15 and October 3 for reopening the university and resuming academic activities, respectively.

    Although the gates of the institution were reopened as scheduled, lectures did not commence as the academic staff union refuted the announcement saying none of their issues had been addressed and that “strike is still in full force.”

    With mounting pressure from the agitated students, LAUTECH’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. A.S. Gbadegesin, once again, promised Monday, October 16, as an alternative resumption date. That date also passed, to no avail.

    However, the students are confident that this new date by ASUU will stand. Oleghe Enike, a 300 level of the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, reacting to the news said: “I believe we will definitely resume on Monday because, unlike the other dates announced by the school management, this one is coming directly from the body [ASUU] that actually embarked on the strike.”

    Read Also: LAUTECH to end strike in days, VC assures