The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ASUU

  • ASUU strike’ll end soon, says AAUA VC

    The Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, (AAUA) Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, has assured that the on-going industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the institution will soon end.

    Ajibefun gave the assurance while speaking with reporters in his office at the weekend.

    The VC said, “Our academic calendar has been very smooth until recently when the university began to face some challenges in terms of payment of salaries, which is not unconnected with the economic recession in the country.

    “Very soon, all the issues will be resolved. We are in a progressive talk with the leadership of ASUU. Efforts are in the top gear to ensure that ASUU members go back to class. Very soon, our students will be asked to return to campus.”

    Reacting to speculations that the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) at AAUA has been proscribed, following a protest by some members of the association, which led to the disengagement of its executives in 2012, Ajibefun said the union was never banned in the university.

    “There is no record whatsoever that says SSANU has been banned. The Management is not against its resuscitation. Everybody has the right to freedom of association and such a right has not been taken away from SSANU,” he said.

  • ASUU laments poor funding of Kebbi varsity

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed concern over what it described as ‘unacceptable’ way the Kebbi State Government was handling its Science and Technology University, Aliero ( KSUSTA).

    Sokoto Zonal Coordinator of the union, Dr. Lawal Alkali Argungu, complained at a briefing in Sokoto, that apart from poor funding, the state had failed to constitute a governing council for the university.

    “This is indicative of how the state government has relegated the issue of education in the state to the background.  With the monthly overhead of N5 million only, since inception to date, the university can be considered abandoned by the government.

    “The state government has left the university without a Governing Council for over one year.

    “ASUU is appealing to the Kebbi State Government not to force the campus to industrial restiveness unnecessarily, because the issue of Governing Council is a serious business in any university system,” he said.

    Argungu also said the union had an “understanding” with Governor Atiku Bagudu, to the effect that, the Council was going to be constituted.

    “And, thereafter, the council will procedurally address the rest of the contentious issues as presented by ASUU/KSUSTA.  As a union, we believe any university without a Governing Council is just like a ship without a captain. KSUSTA has been a peaceful campus since inception. It has never had any course to embark on indefinite strike action,” he said.

    Argungu appealed to eminent Kebbi indigenes and others to prevail on the government to redress the ugly trend.

    “The state government should attend to its responsibilities on the University without further delay in the interest of peace and industrial harmony,” he said.

     

  • Entrepreneurship programme in varsities is misplaced priority, says ASUU

    Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has described the Entrepreneurship Programme initiated by Federal Government in the nation’s tertiary institutions as a propaganda tools by agents who are bent on entrenching the concept of neo liberalism in the country.

    The union described the entrepreneurship programme as a misplaced priority, noting that instead, government needs invest in peoples’ talents.

    Instead, the union urged Federal Government to embrace a new concept called ‘Developmental State’ in which recognises and harnesses human talents and the nation’s resources.

    The union made its position known in a one day symposium with the theme ‘Three decades of Neo-Liberalism in Nigeria’ organised by the University of Lagos chapter of ASUU, at its main auditorium

    “The entrepreneurship education programme are myths projected by agents of liberalism,” ASUU said.

    “They are turning the whole thing like craftsmanship in our tertiary institutions rather than talking about knowledge base that will allow the people see the need to support the state.

    “Neo liberalism is an imposition and ASUU rejects it in its entirety’ ASUU added.

    ASUU national President Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said that the union fears that government sustaining neo liberalism concept will further open the country to foreign exploiters who are more interested in controlling the economy and killing public utilities.

    Ogunyemi said proponent of neo liberalism will always convince government to either drastically reduce or completely stop funding public utilities, a development the union fears would further plunge public universities and other tertiary institutions and public utilities into deeper financial crisis.

    Said Ogunyemi: “The situation on ground (economic recession) is the mismanagement of our economy over the years. We missed the point the moment we stopped planning our economy. We were now trying to borrow from the perspective of World Bank and IMF which is rooted in neo liberalism.

    “Neo liberalism as we have said in this forum, is an imposition by an external group and what they are interested in is how to further open up our economy for exploitation. Unfortunately, our leaders have not demonstrated sufficient patriotism and level of altruism. Those who are controlling our economy today are from the private sector and that is what neo liberalism preaches.

    “When you say government should ‘roll back from the public space’ that means government should stop supporting public institutions and facilities; and that translates to less funding for public utilities.

    “The culmination of all of these is that those that are expected to benefit from these institutions will also not be sufficiently patriotic because they don’t see the state doing much for them.

    “Our union believes neo liberalism has not and cannot help this country; and we are urging government to sit back and do a rethink.

    “We are in support of the new concept called ‘Developmental State’ which essentially recognises the need to harness the talents of the people and resources, and make the people work by investing in them. When you build the capacity of the citizenry, they will come back to serve the country.

    “That was the path the Asian Tigers went. It was not as if IMF and World Bank did not try them, but those countries rebuffed them. Unfortunately, here we don’t have leaders that are strong to resist IMF/WB formula; so we have been moving in circles.”

    The symposium also had four other speakers- professors Omotoye Olorede; Abubakah Momoh; Ndubuisi Nwokoma and Mustapha Akinkunmi who spoke either in support or against the theme.

    ASUU said it is working in collaboration with the Nigerian Labour Congress to review the present economic situation, adding that soon, the two bodies will come up with a conference where they will offer their blueprint on how to bail the nation from her financial doldrums.

    ASUU continued: “If the economy is well planned, you take from then rich to finance the poor. They (governments) are talking about taxation now, but how many of these rich individuals actually pay the accurate tax? Go to Abuja and you find out that about three quarters of those high rise buildings there are locked up. Nobody is there. But you can’t do that in Europe or America because the taxes that will be imposed on them will stop them from building houses they will not occupy. But they are using those structures to launder our money.

  • We have a government that is deaf, says ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again called on Nigerians to appeal to the Federal Government to save public universities from imminent collapse.

    Following a briefing by the union four weeks ago, ASUU said another call became necessary against the seeming recalcitrant posture of the authorities, and the need to absolve the union of any blame if it is left with no choice than embark on strike which it believes is “the only language government understands.”

    “Let it be known that our union has, in the past and if it becomes inevitable, will once again sacrifice the comfort of its members and take up the priority duty of rescuing our education system.

    “In order to forestall this avoidable crisis, we appeal to all genuinely progressive individuals and groups to prevail on Nigerian government to arrest a brewing and potentially combustible situation in the Nigerian university system,” said chairman of ASUU Lagos Zone, Prof Olusiji Sowande at the University of Lagos venue of the briefing.

    Sowande said the union has made repeated but unsuccessful efforts to compel government to fully implement the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, part of which include: the release of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO) licence; NEEDS Assessment Fund; Funding of state universities; and Earned Academic Allowances, and di-harmonisation of staff schools, among others.

    According to Sowande, the scenario is becoming more sickening especially as some state universities have embarked on brazen irregular or non-payment of members’ salaries.

    The zone had representatives from Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU); UNILAG; Federal University of Agriculture; Tai Solarin University of Education; and Lagos State University.

  • Why ASUU is angry over varsity proliferation

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is angry that governments do not adequately fund universities before setting up new ones.  This, the union ascribes to ‘mere political motive.’ Its National President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, who spoke with reporters in Lagos last week, conveyed the union’s view. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA was there 

    ASUU has openly condemned the stoppage of post-UTME by the Federal Government. Don’t you think we should give the Minister of Education the benefit of the doubt?

    ASUU rose to defend post-UTME because we believe its cancellation without superior evidence will lead to a reversal of education fortunes in Nigeria. We have made that clear. We condemn any act that will lower the quality of education and quality of life of Nigerians.

    This (stoppage of UTME) is part of policy summersault which has been the bane of Nigeria’s development as a whole. Every minister will come in and rubbish what his predecessors did because he wants to entrench his own character and personality.

    Setting up universities in Nigeria, either by government or private investors has become a fad, but ASUU is not well disposed to this.

    Proliferation of universities has stretched the academics that are not even enough to cater for existing universities nationwide. The situation is so worrisome to the extent that in many cases vice chancellors blackmail, beg or convince lecturers to come and teach as either part-time or as adjunct lecturers in their new universities.

    Take a survey, how many of these new universities have the required number of (academic) staff? In Nigeria, it is so sad that we establish universities without feasibility studies. See the speed at which 12 universities were created during the immediate past administration.

    ASUU’s position has always been hinged on government’s improvement of existing facilities and expansion of space so that we can manage what we have, rather than creating new ones.

    We are just being hypocritical in Nigeria. Let’s take University of Cairo for instance. They have developed their facilities to the point that the university can accommodate close to 200,000. Which of our campuses in Nigeria has beyond 20,000 students?

    The union has also come out in open condemnation of some governors, who cannot adequately fund universities in their states, yet they are establishing new ones.

    It is not only state governors, Federal Government is also culpable.

    To worsen matter, establishing universities has been turned into a constituency project. Ondo State has established the third university which was cited in the governor’s constituency. The same with governors of Edo and Bayelsa States. So, we all have to come together and tell these governors that they are not sincere and do not love Nigeria. It might interest you to know that on the part of these governors, the new universities were merely a political calculation as in: ‘what am I taking back to my people once I leave government?

    ASUU has come out in brutal condemnation of the new JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, just as we thought the age long faceoff between the union and Oloyede has been laid to rest for good.

    Like we usually say, ASUU does not take a decision without consulting our members. It is our members who said: “Go out there and tell Nigerians of all Oloyede’s atrocities and particularly, his nepotism dictatorial and anti-union tendencies” when he was vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin. ASUU has maintained that we would not have any interaction with him, but with his present designation to do, there is no way the union will not interact with him.

    Nonetheless, we have decided to lodge a complaint at the appropriate quarters, demanding for full investigation into Oloyede’s tenure as Unilorin VC.

    ASUU is also calling for the release of the white paper by Federal Government’s visitation panel on eight universities

    We met with the minister in May this year and he promised us that the White Papers would be released within two weeks. But more than three months now, the White Paper is nowhere to be found. It is about eight months now since that document has been submitted. We have been very vocal in knowing the outcome of the investigations, especially that of Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Despite the various frustrations we have experienced, ASUU is still determined to use all legitimate means at our disposal to get the government to do the needful.

    In general, are you passing a vote of no confidence on the present administration?

    ASUU is not passing a vote of no confidence on the present administration. However, what we are saying as a union is that we are a watchdog, and as a result of that, any government that is not getting it right policy-wise, ASUU has a responsibility to talk and offer alternatives. Our union has been doing that over the years and we hope to continue.

    What is the purpose of this briefing?

    This briefing is to tell governments and Nigerians how our members are feeling. Before taking a decision, ASUU does lots of consultations. What our members are saying is that they are running out of patience; and if their patience gets to boiling point, I think they would tell us what to do. But at this stage, we are only aggregating and articulating.

     

  • Dickson, ASUU, sign pact to end strike 

    Dickson, ASUU, sign pact to end strike 

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to reopen the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) after a four-month strike.

    Prior to the MoU, Dickson paid the university workers two months of the arrears his administration owed them, and asked them to call off the strike.

    ASUU and other categories of workers have been on strike since April, following the inability of the state to pay their salaries since January.

    Irked by the lingering dispute, students of the university and alumni demanded reopening of the only state university in Bayelsa.

    Following a series of negotiations, ASUU reduced its demand for the payment of four months’ to two months, and submitted an MoU to the government on how the balance and other issues affecting the school would be handled.

    A statement yesterday in Yenagoa, the state capital, by Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the lecturers agreed to suspend the strike after signing the MoU.

    The agreement was reportedly signed at the House of Assembly complex in Yenagoa.

    The statement quoted the ASUU Chairman at NDU, Dr. Stanley Ogoun, as well as the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, as expressing satisfaction with the contents of the MoU.

    But they pledged strict compliance with various provisions of the document.

    Ogoun hailed the state government’s mediating team, headed by Dr. Seiyifa Koroye, saying part of its agreement with the government was to address the infrastructural decay at NDU.

    The ASUU chairman said nothing had been done over the years to address the infrastructural needs of the university.

    He said: “It’s just that a particular government has to take responsibility for the plight of the university. At this point, we needed to draw the attention of the present government. That is what we have done.”

    Obuebite praised Dickson for ending the crisis, which generated public concerns.

    The commissioner recalled that even before the signing of the MoU, the governor had taken steps to address a number of ASUU’s demands.

    He described NDU as a flagship tertiary institution and the only publicly funded university in the state.

    Obuebite said the government would continue to fulfill its statutory obligations to NDU.

    But the commissioner blamed issues that caused the strike on the economy at the state and federal levels.

     

  • ASUU warns of imminent strike in varsities

    ASUU warns of imminent strike in varsities

    THE Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) has said it may go on a nationwide strike, except the Federal Government addresses some infrastructural and financial challenges confronting universities.

    ASUU said the strike was inevitable, as most public universities were grounded in serious indebtedness.

    Rising from its National Executive Council meeting  yesterday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, its National President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, told reporters atthe Lagos State College of Medicine Ikeja, that the union was being pushed to the wall; hence the need to draw Nigerians and stakeholders to their plight so the union would not be blamed, if it decided to go on strike.

    Ogunyemi said:  ”At our NEC, we engaged members. Unfortunately, what our members are saying is that they are frustrated and running out of patience, and that if the situation becomes unbearable, they may have to take the option of strike.

    “It is not that ASUU has agreed to go on strike. However, the NEC afforded us the opportunity to aggregate all outstanding issues affecting us. As we keep telling Nigerians, ASUU does not take delight in strike. We believe in consulting widely among our members before any decision is taken.  So we are using this opportunity to tell the world what we are going through and seek their intervention.”

    The union recalled the 2009 ASUU-Federal Government Agreement and its non-implementation, which forced it to strike in 2012 and 2013.

    As a result, the Federal Government signed an MoU with the union in 2013, adding that Section 3.2 of the agreement recommended Earned Academic Allowances in nine categories, which was not upheld.

    According to it, of the N30 billion Federal Government disbursed in 2013 for the Earned Academic Allowances, only N13 billion was released.

    “It is important to state here that of the N30 billion disbursed, only N13 billion wwas released to partly settle claims of academic staff. The refusal to release the outstanding of N128,250,692.47 almost three years after the MoU, is a clear breach of the MoU,” it said.

    Following the Needs Assessment Report by the Federal Government in 2012, it agreed to disburse N1,300,000,000 to revitalise universities nationwide.

    However, it extended the report between 2013 and 2018, instead of the 2009 take off year. According to ASUU, Federal Government is to provide N200 billion in 2013, N220  billion each year between 2014 and 2018.

     

  • Bayelsa to ASUU: Return to negotiation table

    The Bayelsa State Government, yesterday, urged members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), to consider its position and return to the negotiation table.

    Lecturers of the state-owned university has embarked on strike since April to protest the inability of the government to pay  backlog of salaries.

    The government, which spoke through Governor Seriake Dickson’s Special Adviser on Political Matters 1, Chief Fyneman Wilson, said it would be beneficial to the government and the students if the government returned to dialogue.

    Wilson said Dickson was concerned about the current economic situation in the country and the state and its effects on the people.

    He noted that the governor was genuinely and strategically doing everything within his power to cushion the effect by way of installment payments of the backlog of salaries based on the inflow of funds from the federal allocation.

    He said: “Recently, the state government and ASUU in a meeting agreed on a number of issues, prominent among the resolutions reached was that the government will pay the January 2016 salaries and half salaries for the months of March and April.

    “It is already a public knowledge that government has paid January 2016 salaries and is waiting for ASUU to get back to government on discussions with its members on whether they will accept the half salaries as proposed by the government. The government also appealed to ASUU to reopen the university while talks are ongoing.”

    But Wilson said while the government fulfilled its part of the agreement, by paying January salaries, with a commitment to pay two months’ half salaries, ASUU allegedly refused to reopen the institution and was demanding full payments of four months.

    He sympathised with the students on the four months’ closure of the school saying that governments all over the world accept dialogue and peaceful resolution of issues and that Bayelsa is no exception.

    He said the students used last Wednesday’s protest to express their displeasure over the shutting down of NDU, but allowed themselves to be infiltrated by the opposition party.

    He urged the students to be patient with government and to explore non-violent means of persuading ASUU to call off the strike and return to the negotiation table with government.

    On the criticism surrounding the recent passage of a bill by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly for the establishment of the African International University (AIU), a public-private initiative, Wilson said the institution was part of the government’s commercialisation strategy.

  • ASUU lambasts Dickson for establishing new university

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), yesterday, took a swipe at the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, for abandoning the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) to establish a private university christened, ‘the African International University.’

    The lecturers further lamented months of unpaid salaries of lecturers, underfunding of NDU and a deliberate design by the governor to “kill” the state-owned university because of his new university.

    The NDU chapter of ASUU spoke on Friday during at a press conference at the NDU’s Faculty of Law Campus in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

    Flanked by some lecturers of the university, the Chairman, ASUU, NDU chapter, Dr. Stanley Ogoun, said the passage of the bill to establish AIU, under a public-private partnership arrangement, to be sited at Toru Orua, Dickson’s hometown, was a calculated move to destroy the state-owned institution.

    Ogoun said it was unimaginable that a government that failed to adequately fund the NDU could mute the idea of establishing a new university under a partnership arrangement via counterpart funding with a promise to make it better than NDU.

    He faulted the claims that the new university was a PPP project insisting that the process for setting up such an institution was surrounded by secrecy and suspicion.

    He said Dickson used the House of Assembly to speedily make law without public hearing on the new university to quickly procure a license from the National University Commission (NUC) through the backdoor.

    He said: “The first poser is the issue of timing. Is this an auspicious time for a policy thrust like this, considering the state government’s failure to pay salaries spanning into several months?

    “Who truly owns this African University (who are the private promoters)? Why is the Governor of Bayelsa State, the Visitor to a supposed private-sector driven university?  Why are the supposed ‘investors’ faceless?

    “What is the percentage of equity holding by the Bayelsa State Government and that of the supposed ‘investors’ in the PPP arrangement?

    “We know that all universities are established by a single law, and therefore, if the African University is private sector driven (which implies a private sector majority shareholding), why should it be the responsibility of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly to pass the law (legal instrument) setting up the university? Why must a private sector led company be established by a Bayelsa State Government law?”

    The ASUU Chairman sought to know why the faceless “investors” involved in the PPP arrangement could not put together the legal instrument required for the operating license of NUC.

    He wondered why the identities of the unknown private investors were not listed in the bill establishing the new university.

    Ogoun also wondered why the state Assembly passed the bill with an unprecedented speed, within 24 hours, describing it as the fastest bill to become law in the history of legislation in the country.

    He said that the bill establishing the university is a prototype of the NDU law 2000 as amended in 2004, noting that the NDU Law 2000 was copiously plagiarised.

    He called on all Bayelsans, the Ijaw nation and the general public to be vigilant and kick against any fraudulent intent that would enslave the masses.

    The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, said the new university was an idea conceived by private investors who wanted the state partnership.

    Obuebite in a statement said, “We announced the intention of the State Government to engage the private sector to float a new university to be named the African University.

  • ASUU opposes cancellation of post-UTME

    ASUU opposes cancellation of post-UTME

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) slammed the Federal Government’s decision to cancel the post-UTME screening for admission into higher institutions.

    It said it was a fundamental error, which portend danger for tertiary education.

    ASUU, at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, said it was opposed to the decision as it eroded universities’ autonomy.

    The union said the decision also stripped universities of their right to admit only students, who meet their individual admission requirements and standards.

    ASUU’s National President Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, who spoke on behalf the union, said: “What we have  are students, who are qualified to be in the universities and who tested capability to withstand the rigours of academic work. It is this situation the Federal Government seeks to reverse.

    “The post-UTME is an inclusive process, which seeks to involve tertiary institutions in the admission procedures of their students. By cancelling Post-UTME, this inclusiveness has been removed.

    “Hence, tertiary institutions are stripped of their right of admitting only candidates, who meet their individual admission requirements and academic standard, even though the institutions have not rejected the general test.

    “Sifting candidates by their performance in the scrapped post-UTME assures the institutions of the candidate’s test of ability to measure up to the institution’s mission and vision of their universities. This has been jettisoned. This portend grave danger for tertiary education.

    “Considering the poor performance of most graduates and their inability to satisfy the needs of their employers, it is clear this is not the best time for the Federal Government to lower the bar of education and its requirement. On the contrary, this is the time to raise the bar for the graduates to be able to compete locally and globally.

    “The inauspicious policy of proscription of post-UTME has to be re-examined objectively and critically. Government needs to consult with relevant stakeholders in the academia to modify and standardise the conduct of post-UTME as a precondition to getting admission into tertiary institutions in the country”.

    Prof. Ogunyemi said the argument of the government for cancelling the exercise was unacceptable and harmful to the future of Nigeria’s educational system and called on the government to rescind the decision and convene a meeting on the issue.

    He stressed that in this era of change, the process of taking decisions that adversely affect the people and basic institutions vital for national development ought to be democratically and scientifically taken.

    ASUU, he said would not accept policies that violate university autonomy and called on Nigerians to intervene to avert a crisis in the university system, adding that “we have a duty to defend the education system. We intend to fulfil the duty as always”.