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Tag: ASUU

  • ‘ASUU won’t relent until govt revamps public education’

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it will not rest until the Federal Government revamps public education from its current “bad state”.

    ASUU Chairman at the University of Ibadan (UI), Dr Deji Omole, spoke yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, at the lying-in-state of the late Professor of Exercise Physiology, Ademola Olasupo Abass.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was held at the Trenchard Hall of the university.

    In his tribute to the deceased, Omole said it was sad that the Muhammadu Buhari administration had put the budget on education in reverse gear with an unimpressive yearly reduction in the percentage allocated to the sector.

    The union leader noted that the present administration had promised to increase the budget allocation to education when it gets into power to about 20 per cent but it has yet to do so.

    He said: “Our members would have died for nothing if the union drops the struggle for quality infrastructure and better working conditions for Nigerian universities.

    “I recall that while the ruling party was campaigning, its then flag bearer promised to target up to 20 per cent for this critical sector. But what have we witnessed? Budget allocation to education has taken a downward trend.

    “The conditions of service and the level of infrastructure have been dismal. Our colleagues are dying and those already stressed up with our unimpressive education administration have started relocating to better places. This is pathetic.

    “Nigerians should tell President Buhari to spare the lives of lecturers who are over-burdened by excess workload and health challenges they have no money to treat due to poor wages.”

    UI Vice Chancellor, Prof Idowu Olayinka, while extolled the virtues of the late Prof. Abass, who he said served the university in several capacities and contributed greatly to its development.

    NAN reports that the event was attended by colleagues, students, members of ASUU nationwide, friends and family of the late professor.

  • ASUU bemoans varsity decay

    Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has chided governments for paying lip service to the education sector, thereby leaving it in a state of decay over the years.

    The Nsukka Zone of the union said this after its meeting at the Benue State University, Makurdi.

    In a statement by the Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Igbana Ajir, a copy of which was made available to reporters in Makurdi, the union lamented that stagnation of staff and non-payment of salary arrears have dampened members’ morale to the extent that it hampers them from performing optimally.

    The body further accused governors of proliferating tertiary institutions without corresponding funding for existing ones to run properly and efficiently, adding that most of the infrastructure in universities are courtesy of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEDFund).

    ASUU said it was ridiculous that the owners of universities establish them without plotting strategies for their survival.

    The union stated that some of the institutions established as recently as 10 years ago without funding agenda are now in a total state of neglect and crying for survival. While a handful of the states fully pay salaries of staff, others merely pay percentages.

    “The union noted with grave concern that since 1999, the budgetary allocations to the education sector has generally been very poor with the highest in 2015, a paltry 11.9 per cent which is far below the 26 per cent minimum prescribed by the United Nations Educational Scientific Commission.

    “In the 2000, a miserable 8.36 per cent which had 1.69 per cent; in 2018, the allocation is still as low as 7.04 per cent which shows that little commitment is given to improving the decay in the education sector. It is clear that the highly publicised declaration of a “state of emergency in education sector” made in April 2018 has since been jettisoned. There is no mention of this at any point in time which makes pronouncements of the government worrisome”.

    The statement also alluded to the joint ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho owned by bothOyo and Osun states, adding that the institution is currently under the yoke of underfunding and other matters due to failure to release subventions to it. The union therefore called on parents, workers and civil society organisations to impress it on the two states to do the needful.

    “The promotion of staff in LAUTECH has stagnated from 2023/2014,2014/2015,2015/2016,2016/2017 and pained by the development, all staff unions in the university had embarked on strike actions which brought academic and administrative activities to a halt for almost a year. All entreaties to make the two states yield ownership fell on deaf ears,” it said.

     

  • ASUU seeks more funds for education

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has condemned poor funding of education.

    It accused the government of proliferating tertiary institutions without funding the existing ones.

    Addressing a news conference at the weekend at the end of a meeting in Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, ASUU-NSUKKA Zone urged the Federal Government to increase funding of education by 20 per cent as prescribed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

    Zonal Coordinator Dr. Igbana Ajir, who read a statement, said most of the infrastructural development in the universities were carried out with funds from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

    He said: “It is ridiculous that the owners of these universities established them without looking back at how they survive. They have no funding agenda.”

    Ajir said following neglect, the universities depended on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to pay salary.

    “The use of IGR to pay salary, instead of running overheads, is unacceptable to ASUU,” he added.

    Ajir said as many as 17 states failed to provide matching grants for accessing the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds to support free, universal and compulsory basic education.

    According to him, visitors in the universities are more interested in making political capital than having functional tertiary institutions.

    On the plight of workers of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, ASUU- NSUKKA zone implored the Federal Government and well- meaning individuals to intervene, for the sake of the students.

    ASUU-NSUKKA Zone comprises Benue State University, Makurdi, Enugu State University of Technology Enugu, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Federal University, Lokoja and Federal University, Wukari.

    Others are Kogi State University, Anyingba and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

    ASUU has urged the Federal Government to employ more lecturers, to prevent the overworked ones from untimely death.

    It called for medical check-up by institutions to ascertain their workers’ health conditions.

    In a statement at the weekend in Ibadan, the Chairman, University of Ibadan (UI) chapter of the union, Dr. Deji Omole, said public universities were short of not fewer than 40,000 lecturers.

    He said due to poor working environment, job overload and non-approval of annual leave as and when due, the union had lost members to death across the country this year.

    Omole said the Federal Government had refused to employ more lecturers to cope with the number of students, adding that the teachers worked under dehumanised conditions, as the government refused to pay the earned academic allowances from 2011 to date.

    Reacting to the death of Professor of Exercise Physiology, Olasupo Abass, who died at the University of Ibadan, Omole said the deceased did not show any sign of ailment, but suspected he might have died a stress-related death.

  • LAUTECH crisis: ASUU resists ‘commercialization’ of education

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU ), Calabar Zone, has described the abdication of the responsibility of funding the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho by the co-owners, Oyo and Osun States, as an introduction to the commercialization of education, which should be resisted.

    Addressing reporters in Calabar, Cross River State, on Tuesday, the Zonal Coordinator, Dr Aniekan Brown, said the ramifications of commercializing education “are very negative both in the short and long terms.”

    Reading from a statement signed by himself and chairpersons of ASUU of the universities within the zone, he said, “It is regrettable that that institution has become an uncanny and typical metaphor of the neglect of public education in our country Nigeria.

    “The brazen abdication of the responsibility of funding of LAUTECH by the co-owners, Oyo and Osun States, is a shocking new low even in an environment where the neglect of public institutions is fast becoming a norm.

    “In some time past, even within our clime, the situation of LAUTECH would have been considered an aberration and a shameful moral condition, if not a taboo of some sorts. But to dramatize the serious moral crisis that we face, the governments of Oyo and Osun States carry on as if nothing has happened even in the face of a jointly owned university becoming comatose due to lack of funding.

    “Right now, the workers are owed arrears of salaries upward of one year and very little is being done to address the situation. The workers are practically writhing in pains and penury, suffering all kinds of deprivations.

    “The lowness of their morale cannot be overstated. For the students, the situation is no better, as the needed environment for meaningful teaching and learning has been willfully destroyed.

    “This is all because the university has become entirely dependent on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for survival, the impact of which is on the students and their parents who have been compelled to pay outrageously high and unaffordable fees, even in the face of the present precarious economic situation. This is unacceptable and should be dutifully rejected.

    Read Also: ASUU  threatens strike over 10-months salary debt at LAUTECH

    “It is unimaginable that a university could be allowed to suffer this fate, while its visitors are busy establishing new ones. This painful irony is a challenge to our nation. It is also sad that university teachers could be allowed to face this pestilence and humiliation at the instance of the Governors of Oyo and Osun States.

    “ASUU Calabar Zone condemns in totality the brazen irresponsibility going on in LAUTECH, a university that is now a moral scar on the conscience of our nation. There is no more terrible a way of darkening the future than killing education as is the case in LAUTECH.

    “We therefore draw the attention of well-meaning Nigerians to the show of shame in LAUTECH and urge all to call the governments of Oyo and Osun States to order. The Visitors to the university must live up to their responsibility of funding. They must recognize that education is a public good; and they must go beyond the issues of ownership and discharge their responsibilities to Nigeria and Nigerians.

    “Allowing the staff to go without being paid salaries for about a year, refusing to carry out any physical development in the institution and directing officers of the university to all proceed on leave while the present ones are all in acting capacity is a mockery of the university system taken too far, which should not be tolerated.

    “By refusing to subvent the university, thus making the institution wholly reliant on IGR, is an introduction of commercialization of education, the ramifications of which are very negative both in the short and long terms. ASUU Calabar Zone calls on progressive forces across the country to reject in strong terms what is happening in LAUTECH. The future we desire as a nation “lies in the sacrifices we have the courage to make today. Confronting what challenges that future is a responsibility that we cannot afford to shirk from. We have a duty as Nigerians to come to the rescue by not allowing Oyo and Osun States to kill LAUTECH.

    Present at the briefing were chairperson of the University of Calabar, Dr Tony Eyang; University of Uyo, Dr Daniel Udo; Akwa Ibom State University, Dr Imeh Okop, Abia State University, Dr Ochi Ejimofor; Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Dr Ogugua Egwu: and Ebonyi State University, Dr Ikechukwu Igwenyi.

  • Lautech: ASUU Ibadan, Lagos zones protest in oyo

    Academic workers union under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU )  from the Lagos and Ibadan zones on Friday staged a peaceful protest across Ibadan, the Oyo state capital city on what they described as the continuous neglect of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho.

    The protesters who gathered at the headquarters office of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Agodi Gate, carrying placards walked through Total Garden –UCH-and terminated at the Oyo State Secretariat, Agodi Ibadan where they delivered a letter of protest to the Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

    Institutions under the Lagos zone include, University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tai Solarin University of Education and University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, while the University of Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osun State University, Kwara State University and University of Ilorin makes up the Ibadan zone of the Union.

    The protesters were led by both the Ibadan and Lagos zonal leader of the union. Inscriptions on some of the placards read, “Aregbe, Ajimobi, do not kill the best state University in Nigeria”, “What is Omoluabi in not funding education”, “Education is the heritage of Yoruba’s, do not kill Lautech”, ASUU Lagos Zone demands adequate funding for Lautech, Ogbomosho, and fund education in Nigeria”, “ASUU Lautech, Ogbomosho says Lautech must not be liquidated. Governors Ajimobi/Aregbesola, release funds to Lautech as advocated by Wole Olanipekun visitation panel” and “You are all products of free public education, do not destroy it.”

    Other placards read, “Do not sacrifice Lautech for mushrooming Tech U”, “Oyo/Osun People, shine your eyes, Lautech must not die”, “KPMG did not recommend increase in tuition, stop taking education away from the reach of the masses”, “Aare Atunluse and Ogbeni, do not destroy public education”, “Do not sell Lautech. Lautech is not a commodity.”, “Support Lautech Governing Council by making funds available” and “Do not put the lives of 30,000 students of Lautech in jeopardy. Aregbesola, Ajimobi act fast”.

    Speaking on the rationale behind the protest, ASUU UI Chairman, Dr. Deji Omole said the protest is in support of the struggle embarked upon by the academic staff unions of Lautech, Ogbomosho to get the university properly funded, saying “we realized that since the beginning of the administration of Aregbesola and Ajimobi, they have simply refused to fund the university. The university that used to be one of the best state universities in Nigeria is now groaning in pains of underfunding. And we view this as gross irresponsibility on the part of the owner states. We are here to register our protest to the way the university has been treated by Ajimobi and Aregbesola.”

    Similarly, the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, Dr Ade Adejumo said the government insistence that the institution can survive on internally generated funds is the peak of irresponsibility noting that Lautech as a public institution must be funded by public funds which are in the coffer of the government.

    Receiving the protesters on behalf of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Gbade Ojo assured the protesters of the commitment of the owner state governors.

    Noting that, his service as the Chairman of the government committee set up to generate a white paper on the report of the Wole Olanipekun visitation panel on the institution, Ojo assuage the minds of the protesters that many discoveries and revelation on the institution shows gross mismanagement of funds, appealing to the protesters to poke their nose into the affairs and running of the institution by the management and the governing council.

    Assuring the university lecturers that the letter will be transmitted to the governor, the CoS disclosed that “in the last few weeks, the government has increased the subventions given to the institutions in Oyo state with some tertiary institutions in Oyo state getting as much as 80 percent of the subventions”, saying it is an indication of the government commitment to improving education in the state.

  • ASUU rejects introduction of duty register by Delta Varsity

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka branch, has rejected the “clock-in and clock-out” policy recently introduced for academic staff by the authorities of the institution.

    The union, in an August 10, 2018 letter to the state’s Commissioner for Higher Education, described the policy as non academic, unprecedented and a deviation from best-practices in the global academic community.

    It said  “there is no university in the country (and possibly the world) where academics clock-in and clock-out,” adding that the policy “will only make mockery of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, and the entire state, before the national and global university community.”

    It noted that that university lecturers are involved in teaching, research, and community development, hence members of ASUU – DELSU would continue to discharge their responsibilities with regards to these obligations.

    The union said the policy was a threat to the globally cherished non-negotiable autonomy of the university, which the union would continue to defend.

    It advised the Governor and visitor to the university to see those behind the policy as saboteurs who did not wish him well.

    The letter was signed by the branch chairman and secretary, Prof. Abel Diakparomre and Dr Emmanuel Ufuophu-Biri.

    The memo requires academic staff to clock-in and clock-out each time they resume and close from duties with effect from Aug. 1, 2018.

     

  • ASUU rejects introduction of duty register by DELSU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka branch, has rejected the “clock-in and clock-out” policy recently introduced for academic staff by the authorities of the institution.

    The union, in an August 10, 2018 letter to the state’s Commissioner for Higher Education, described the policy as non- academic, unprecedented and a deviation from best-practices in the global academic community.

    It said:  “There is no university in the country and possibly the world where academics clock-in and clock-out.

    “The policy will only make mockery of the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, and the entire state, before the national and global university community.”

    It noted that university lecturers are involved in teaching, research, and community development, hence members of ASUU – DELSU would continue to discharge their responsibilities with regards to these obligations.

    The union said the policy was a threat to the globally cherished non-negotiable autonomy of the university, which the union would continue to defend.

    It advised the state Governor and visitor to the university to see those behind the policy as saboteurs who did not wish him well.

    The letter was signed by the branch chairman and secretary, Prof. Abel Diakparomre and Dr. Emmanuel Ufuophu-Biri, respectively.

     

  • ASUU rejects Babalakin as head of renegotiation panel

    THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected Dr. Wale Babalakin, as the chairman of the Government Renegotiating Team for the 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.

    Babalakin’s rejection was part of the resolutions at the end of ASUU’s National Executive Council at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) that “anything can happen”, if nothing is done about it by the Federal Government.

    Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting in UNICAL, the union’s National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, described Babalakin as a stumbling block in the renegotiation process.

    He said:  “You will recall that in January, 2017, the NEC meeting of ASUU held at Bayero University, Kano, welcomed the reconstitution of government renegotiation team to enter into renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement, which was long overdue. The renegotiation commenced in March, 2017. At the inauguration of the committee, the Minister of Education declared that he expected the renegotiation exercise to be completed within six weeks. Since then, for over 14 months, our union has had series of negotiation meetings but it has been a fruitless exercise.

    “The Chairman of the Government Renegotiating Team, in the person of Dr. Babalakin (SAN), has constituted a stumbling block in the process of the renegotiation. He has arrogantly exhibited “I-know-it-all” attitude and also conducted himself as a judge, instead of a negotiator.

    “With unwarranted arrogance, he has disregarded the cardinal principles of collective bargaining, deliberately slowed the process and made mockery of the core tenets of industrial democracy. He has arrogated to himself the power to decide matters that should be collectively debated, analysed, and agreed upon by the two parties.

    “He has also consistently attempted to substitute core constitutional provisions of Nigeria on education, including university education, by market principles of trading in and purchasing higher education, putting Nigerian children in debt peonage in order to acquire higher education. This situation is not acceptable to the union.”

    Ogunyemi said ASUU had tried through several entreaties to make Babalakin see reason and return to the path of collective bargaining and respect for the Constitutional provisions on Education to no avail.

    “The Chairman of the Government team has amply demonstrated that his major interest is to force ASUU to accept the dependence of the education of our youth on debts whereas the constitution promises free education. Since March 2017, a period of over 14 months, discussion has hovered only on funding and Babalakin’s insistence that a tuition regime must be introduced into the public universities in Nigeria. It is significant to point out that education is a right, according to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    ASUU called on Nigerians to prevail on the government to return to the path of honour by immediate reconstitution of its team to conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.

    They also resolved to update ASUU members on the Federal Government’s failure to keep its promises on the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and September, 2017 MoA.

    ASUU said its members will meet in due course to consider the next line of action.

  • LAUTECH heading towards collapse, says ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso has said the institution will soon shut its gates if nothing is done to rescue it.

    The union decried the decay of infrastructure in the institution.

    It expressed concern about “underfunding” of the institution by its co-owners of Osun and Oyo State governments.

    In a joint statement yesterday by its Chairman, Biodun Olaniran and Secretary, Toyin Abegunrin, the union said both state governments should be blame for whatever happens to the institution.

    The statement reads: “Recall that ASUU at LAUTECH, in a statement on July 26, warned about the impeding crises in the university due to government’s refusal to fund the university as part of their cardinal responsibilities to the Nigerian masses.

    “This has led to the accumulation of unpaid salaries. Prompt payment of salaries, which is a major motivating ingredient of productivity, has become a mirage in our erstwhile glorious and exemplary state university which, in the past, was the glory of Oyo and Osun states.

    “Presently, suffering and uncertainty of survival means have become the abiding companions of the workers. After the alarm the union raised in the statement, one expected that a sensitive government would respond positively towards averting the looming crises.

    “However, to our dismay, nothing was said or done on the statement. It is unfortunate that about eight months after the suspension of strike in the university, all the promises of the University Governing Council (GC), which led to the suspension, have not been fulfilled. It is saddening to report that up till now, the workers are being owed 10 months’ salary, promotion arrears, among other allowances. Salaries are being paid through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), mainly from school fees.

    “It should be recalled that the union also called on the public to reach out to the Visitors to do the needful. Up till now, no response of any sort has been received.

    “Flowing from the litany of misfortunes foisted on the university by the government, as enumerated above, our union is left with no other option than to call out our members once again to return to the trenches in search of a lasting solution to the crises…”

  • Pro-Chancellor hails FG over release of Unilorin lecturers’ allowance

    Dr Abdullah Oyekan, the Chairman of the Governing Council, University of Ilorin, has commended the Federal Government on the release of the long-awaited earned allowance for academic staff of the university.

    Oyekan, in a statement on Monday, also applauded the University’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for its display of civilised trade unionism.

    “I thank the Federal Government for honouring its pledge to pay the Earned Allowance of Unilorin staff along with others.

    “I must also express, on behalf of the Unilorin Council, my deep appreciation of the highly commendable display of civilized trade unionism by the rank and file of the Unilorin ASUU.’’

    He noted that staff members were expected to be role models for the generality of the masses on all issues.

    He, however, noted that the recent protest on the exclusion of the university from the first earned allowance list, was handled with remarkable decorum.

    “Unilorin ASUU has done Unilorin proud; first, in protesting the devilish exclusion of Unilorin ASUU from the first list and thereafter, the patience displayed when there was the delay in disbursing the money.

    “We were all witnesses to the dignified deaf ear that Unilorin ASUU leadership and members turned to taunts and fabrications of some miscreants calculated to undermine the reputation of their Union.

    “This strongly contributed to making Unilorin the most sought-after University in the country.

    “We salute their patience, tenacity, reasonableness and realism,’’ Oyekan said.