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Tag: ASUU

  • Strike would be suspended within 24 hours if… – ASUU

    Strike would be suspended within 24 hours if… – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Wednesday said the ongoing strike by university lecturers would be suspended within 24 hours once the new resolutions reached with President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 were accepted.

    The union, however, described the statement credited to the Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, that ASUU was making new outrageous demands as “untrue and absolute lie.”

    The union said it asked President Jonathan to facilitate the endorsement of resolutions reached with him and signed by high ranking government official preferably the Attorney-General of the Federation but not a permanent secretary.

    ASUU said a representative of the body including the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwahid Omar, would stand as witnesses.

    The union said it wanted the N200 billion agreed upon as 2013 revitalisation fund for public universities to be warehoused with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed to the benefiting universities.

    ASUU’s position was conveyed by the union National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola Aremu, while speaking with The Nation in an interview in Ibadan on Wednesday.

    He said the union appreciated the intervention of President Jonathan but noticed that some of the resolutions reached with the President were not included in the letter sent to the union.

    According to him, the supervising Minister of Education was economical with the truth by not telling Nigerians that apart from the N30 billion earned allowances released for university staff, the government was yet to release the N100 billion claimed to have been released.

     

     

  • ASUU’s demands outrageous, says minister

    ASUU’s demands outrageous, says minister

    University teachers are seeking audience with President Goodluck Jonathan.

    They delivered yesterday a letter containing the request to the Supervising Minister for Education, Chief. Nyesom Wike.

    Also, top leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), led by National President, Dr. Nasir Issa Fagge, converged yesterday on Abuja for the last stage of discussions with the Federal Government.

    The leaders were awaiting the President’s invitation on the three conditions they tabled for the almost five -month strike to be called off.

    The conditions are:

    • commitment from the President that any review or reconsideration or renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement will not substantially affect the Agreement which is the cause of the ongoing strike;

    • immediate payment of all outstanding salary arrears and allowances of varsity teachers without victimisation; and

    •a written commitment from the President that the Federal Government will commit N225billion annually to the funding of universities for the next four years.

    ASUU’s letter was delivered to the Minister through its Liaison Officer in Abuja.

    But the minister has described the demand as outrageous.

    Wike said: “I will have to see Mr. President to see how the government can go about this development, which is not favourable. It is outrageous. ASUU is now making fresh demands and this will definitely need further discussion.”

    In the letter, the union demanded that it would want the last tranche of the negotiation with the Federal Government to be witnessed by President of the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) Abduwaheed Omar and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).

    A top source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said ASUU leaders were determined to see that any agreement with the Federal Government has legal binding.

    The source said: “ASUU leaders are not ready to take anything for granted this time around; every clause in whatever is agreed upon will have legal effect on the two parties.

    “This is why ASUU leaders have asked for the NLC President and the AGF to be present. They do not want a situation where the government will deny such agreement in the near future.

    “It was amazing how the government had been faulting the 2009 Agreement, which it was part of. This shows that ASUU must be extremely careful.”

    There were indications also that the Federal Government was also firming up its position on the conditions set by ASUU.

    A Presidency source said: “The government is also weighing options on the demands of ASUU especially the aspects relating to financial commitment.

    “You know, what the government spends has to depend on what it earns. If there is a binding financial commitment and there is global recession in the oil industry, will government now look for money at all cost?

    “This is one grey area of the pending agreement on which the two parties must reach a compromise.”

    A source close to ASUU however said varsity students may stay at home till next year when the government will be ready to meet the union’s demand.

    The source said the government’s plan is to deceive ASUU into calling off the strike and still not implement the 2009 agreement.

    “ASUU will not chicken out of its fight. The death of Iyayi has further deepened our resolve to ensure that government implements the 2009 agreement. This fight is for the university community and not for ASUU. Many people are insinuating that we are fighting for the 2009 to be implemented to favour ASUU. They can say whatever they like that will not deter us.

    ”Government knows what to do. But people in the same government are mismanaging public funds which can be used to implement the said FG/ASUU agreement. Many of us at the ASUU session at Mambayya House in Kano resolved that government must meet the 2009 agreement.”

    Wike yesterday condemned new conditions which the union insists must be met before a truce could be achieved.

    Wike spoke during his meeting with Commissioners of Education in Abuja.

    He confirmed that ASUU had given new conditions to call off the strike.

    The Minister at the meeting with the commissioners assured them of the readiness of the Federal Government to support state governments in the development of education.

     

  • EBSU pulls out of ASUU strike

    EBSU pulls out of ASUU strike

    Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki (EBSU) yesterday announced that it was pulling out of the four-month strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    The management, in a statement, said this followed the inconclusiveness of the ASUU National Executive Council meeting held at the weekend in Kano State.

    It said academic activities will resume in all the campuses today.

    The Registrar, Sam N. Egwu, said: “Having waited patiently for the Federal Government and ASUU to resolve the impasse behind the over four months strike embarked upon by the Union to no avail, the management of EBSU has resolved to re-open the school.

    “We, therefore, inform all concerned that teaching and learning will begin fully today. This is to enable us cover what we have lost to the strike.”

    A source said: “None of the lecturers are happy about the strike; they gave 80 per cent support to the plan by the management to resume academic activities at the last meeting of the school management.

    A source said: “The EBSU-ASUU chairman was not at the meeting and no reason was given regarding his absence. I learnt ASUU got wind of the agenda of the meeting and decided to boycott it.”

    But the EBSUU-ASUU Chairman, Prof Ndubuisi Idenyi, dissociated the Union from the purported reopening by the management and maintained that the strike was still in progress.

    “We are still on strike until we are given a contrary directive from the national leadership,” he said.

    Idenyi warned the school management not to dare the lecturers, adding that the Union was ready for a showdown, if the management decides to punish their members for refusing to resume work.

     

  • EBSU withdraws from ASUU strike

    EBSU withdraws from ASUU strike

    Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, on Monday pulled out of the ongoing strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    The school authorities took the decision following the failure of the ASUU National Executive Council which met in Kano at the weekend to put to an end to the strike.

    A statement issued by the institution’s Registrar, Mr. Sam Egwu, said academic activities will resume in all the university campuses on Tuesday.

    The statement said, “Having waited patiently for Federal Government and ASUU to resolve the impasse occasioned by the over four months strike embarked upon by the union to no avail, the management of EBSU on Monday, November 26 resolved to reopen the school.

    “We therefore inform all concerned that teaching and learning will begin fully on Tuesday, 26th, November, 2013. This is to enable us cover what we have lost to the strike.”

     

     

  • Iyayi’s family deny shift in burial plans

    Family of late Festus Iyayi has denied reports of a change in plan in the burial date the former President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
    Iyayi died in a road accident that involved the convoy of the Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada and the family announced first week of December as the tentative date for Iyayi’s burial.
    There were  reports at the weekend that the family had postponed the burial indefinitely following a  cut suspected to be bullet wounds found on Iyayi’s heart.
    This, according to the reports was to allow proper autopsy and investigations to be carried out.
    Spokesman for the family, Prof. Robert Ebewele said the family has not change the burial plan.
    Prof. Robert told the Nation that whatever rumours going round was not recognized by the family.
    “Let the expert talk. Whatever we are hearing is not recognized by the family. ASUU is getting a pathologist but we have not changed the burial plan.”
  • Uncertainties over ASUU strike

    Uncertainties over ASUU strike

    •Members in text messages, want action sustained

    A crucial meeting of the National Executive Council, NEC, of The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ended in Kano yesterday, with members across the country eagerly awaiting directive on the next line of action.

    But while the waiting continues, ASUU members at the University of Lagos are calling for the continuation of the strike with a view to sorting out the issues at stake once and for all.

    The lecturers have been sending text messages to their colleagues that there cannot be a better time than now to resolve the dispute with the Federal Government.

    One of the text messages reads: “Dear Comrades: This is to inform you that the strike is still on. Based on feedback from branches, the Union resolved to clear some grey areas before any further action. If we must remove strike as a regular feature in our university system then, we must get things sorted out permanently. Be steadfast as we await next congress meeting. Thanks.”

    The ASUU NEC meeting was principally convened to rectify the resolutions of the local branches of the union based on the offer by President Goodluck Jonathan on the controversial ASUU/FG agreement.

    It was gathered that during the meeting held in a secret location in Kano on Thursday and Friday nights, the leadership of the union may have taken a position on the lingering strike.

    Sources told our reporter that the meeting was summoned by the leadership of the union to find a way of soft landing, so as to ensure a peaceful and pleasant resolution for the benefit of all.

  • Still waiting for ASUU

    Last Wednesday, I was a guest on a live interview programme on Rainbow FM. The discussion was on the over five months’ old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The anchor asked me the question which Nigerians want an urgent answer to.

    How do we end this strike, which, just when we thought it would be called off at the National Executive Council meeting of the union, has continued following the death of a former president of the union, Professor Festus Iyayi, while on his way to the meeting?.

    I wish I had an answer except to say that we have to await the decision of the National Executive Council meeting which from every indication should call off the strike whenever the meeting is held. The various campus branches of the union had held a referendum on the offer of the federal government and indications are that the majority want the strike called off to give the government yet another benefit of the doubt.

    For now, the crucial meeting remains suspended indefinitely and it seems we may have to wait till next year for lectures to resume on campuses of government-owned universities.

    What is really worrying is the uncertainty of when the meeting is likely to hold. Professional speculators have been having a field day raising false hopes about the meeting on the social media. Last Sunday I had to call our Kano Correspondent to check out a report about ASUU NEC meeting holding at the Bayero University, Kano, which turned out not to be true.

    I have no problem with the decision of the union to suspend its meeting to decide on the strike in honour of the late Professor Iyayi. It would have been insensitive not to do so considering the leading role he has played in the campaign of the union for better welfare of members over the years.

    He would not have died in the car accident if he was not going to attend the NEC meeting. If the government had not failed to honour the 2009 agreement there would have been no need for the ongoing strike.

    However, the ASUU cannot continue to keep the nation in suspense about when it would meet to decide on its next line of action. Nigerians need to know what ASUU decision is, to know where to apply necessary pressure.

    From the calls by listeners to the programme, there is no doubt that Nigerians sympathise with ASUU and blame the government for not discharging its responsibility when it should have. Notwithstanding, they are not pleased that there is no clear statement from ASUU on the matter.

    It is bad enough that we have found ourselves in this unfortunate situation but we cannot afford to continue to keep thousands of students of government-owned universities at home while their colleagues in private universities and the University of Ilorin are pursuing their studies.

    The ongoing strike has further done incalculable damage to the university education system in the country and should not be allowed to linger while the government and union officials work to resolve the crisis once and for all.

    I sincerely hope that the strike would be called off soon and I won’t have to keep writing about it as I promised to do until the ugly development is put behind us.

  • The convoy tragedy

    Just when we thought ASUU was on the verge of discussing the latest offer from the Federal Government after a crucial meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan aimed, perhaps at ending the almost five month old strike action tragedy struck. The government had offered the union N220 billion as against the N400 billion originally outlined in the 2009 agreement. The National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to discuss the offer would have held last week in Kano, Kano State.

    But Festus Iyayi, a University of Benin professor of Business Administration and onetime ASUU president and frontline member of the union was killed in a road accident involving the convoy of the Kogi State Governor Captain Idris Wada. Two other leaders of the union were, according to reports, critically injured and receiving treatment at the hospital. Prof. Iyayi alongside others was on his way to attend the meeting.

    I asked the same question I asked when the late activist, Chuma Ubani died in an accident a few years ago: Why do those that often fight for social justice and equity in society sometimes die terrible deaths? As is often the case, how can a mere mortal like me proffer answer to a question that only God can answer?

    That the late Iyayi died on his way to ASUU NEC is a testimony to his life-long commitment to the struggle for a better public university education system in Nigeria. Even after his two year stint as president of ASUU, he remained a vocal critic of government anti-poor education and economic policies; it was therefore little surprise that he was a prominent member of ASUU’s team negotiating with government the need to honour the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement.

    I never had the privilege of meeting the late erudite professor, but I met him through his numerous writings and followed his trajectory right from my days in the secondary school. I have read two of his three novels; Violence, The Contract, and Heroes, as well as some of his collection of short stories. One of them, Awaiting Court Martial, exposes the abject penury and disenfranchisement that constitute the social reality of the majority of Nigerians.

    The novel, Violence is, in some ways, an elucidation of the thoughts of Frantz Fanon in the ‘Wretched of the Earth’ in the manner that Ola Rotimi’s ‘The Gods Are Not To Blame’ explained ‘Oedipus Rex’, an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. It is the story of a young man’s brave efforts to overcome unemployment and liberate his family from the clutches of poverty. It is also the story of his unwillingness to compromise his integrity in the face of daunting challenges in the form of sleaze and corruption characterising his society.

    In language that is often vitriolic and stinging, Iyayi’s protagonists potently display his contempt for the rampant corruption that strangles contemporary Nigeria. Business persons, politicians, generals, top civil servants and other officials hoard the country’s wealth and power at the expense of the working class. Through his writings, he frowns at this base depravity of the ruling class.

    The facts of the tragic accident make it clear that Iyayi was a direct victim of the recklessness, irresponsibility and impunity that characterise the exercise of power at every level of our government, this impunity is at an all-time high in this democratic dispensation. Most road users must have witnessed the thuggish behaviour of drivers in government convoys and many have indeed been killed or maimed by their reckless driving. Often, the ‘urgent matter of state’ for which the convoys break every traffic rule and brutalise citizens who happen to be on the road at the same time with them, is to convey their “Excellency’s” to a social function or on some personal errand.

    What is really the essence of leadership? Is it not service? But here, we have – like every other thing – turned the concept on its head thereby making it lose its meaning. Isn’t it high time we demand an end to official convoys that flout with delight every traffic regulation and civilized behaviour on the roads built with our taxes and commonwealth?

    Given the immediate circumstances of this tragic event, there have been calls in certain quarters – which I also support – for the Kogi State Attorney-General to bring charges against the offending driver for manslaughter. We are talking about a precious human life here and if done it will send a clear message to the federal and state governments and to all of the public functionaries who delight in the violent, often bloody, spectacle of official convoys. I spoke to a lawyer friend and he enjoined the Iyayi family to institute a civil action, in which one of the remedies would be punitive damages.

    Agreed, this would not bring him back, but the sooner we start to take our sanity back by conducting ourselves in civilized manner with a high sense of decorum, the better things would be for us as a nation.

    More importantly, Iyayi would not have been on that road were it not for the ASUU strike. Had the Federal Government understood its duty towards our public universities, and failing that, kept its commitment to ASUU in numerous agreements, then Iyayi, and his travelling colleagues lucky to have survived the accident – but now scarred for life by their close shave with death – would not have traveled for the purpose of deliberating on the Federal Government’s needlessly delayed offer to end the strike.

    People who believe in the prophetic power of writers may thus find cause to, in retrospection, attach more importance to one of the popular statements from Iyayi’s novel, Heroes “… those who carry the cross for society always get crucified in the end …”

    Prof. Iyayi saw life as a struggle. He believed that those who struggle must stand for the cause they believe in. This was part of what defined his relationship with ASUU. Whether he lost his job or jailed for the cause of ASUU, he stood by the union all through. A few weeks ago, he wore academic gown and demonstrated with his colleagues in Benin.

    At least one thing stands out clearly from the struggles of Iyayi and his colleagues: the Federal Government now understands that the academics are not pushovers and will not just accept anything shoved down their throats, they have sent a clear signal that things should be done the right way. The Federal Government had an agreement with the union on implementing certain financial commitments to better the educational system for everybody, but instead of looking straight at the matter and dealing with it, they resorted to pandering and sentiments. I believe if things go the way ASUU wants; it would not just be a victory for them in this matter, but for the entire system.

    I don’t share the emotions of the Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam that the strike was politicised. Far from it, we will miss the point if we fail to understand that the issue here is the signing and adherence to an agreement; every other thing derives from this. No doubt, this has made the government to realise that tertiary institutions have been neglected for so long and that is why the President himself had to join the negotiation with ASUU at the last resort and increase the funds earlier released.

    Though at some point, ignorant people who do not fully understand the issues at stake lambasted the union for the prolonged action, but I’m glad with the late Iyayi and his colleagues for making their point which forced the government to meet some of their demands. At least, close to 80 per cent of ASUU demands have been met by the government. I need to however add that no meaningful negotiation is achieved if the parties stuck to their guns; the game is called give and take. That’s why it is called negotiation.

    This notwithstanding, the question in almost everyone’s lip now is would this be the last ASUU strike? Only time and the commitment of the government can answer this question. The scholar of repute would have died in vain if this strike should continue beyond this moment or happens again in the near future over the same issue of funding of our university system.

     

  • Respite for Sokoto varsity students, others

    Respite for Sokoto varsity students, others

    The Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) community has not had it so good since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike started last July. The institution was thrown into mourning a few days after it was closed down. Hadiza Muritala, daughter of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof A. A. Bagudo, died after a brief illness.

    The late Hadiza was a 300-Level student before her death.

    A few days ago, another student, Amina Ladan in 500-Level Veterinary Medicine, died also.

    There is a silver lining at the turnel’s end. The bridges linking the university to Sokoto metropolis are being repaired. The bridges deteriorated 38 months ago, following the flood that ravaged Sokoto and some parts of Kebbi State. The incident disrupted academic and commercial activities before the intervention of the Federal Government, which provided a military floating bridge as a palliative measure.

    The eroded portions of the bridges were later sand-filled by the Sokoto State government in January 2011, a situation that heightened the fear of students and residents of the university’s host communities whenever it rained.

    Several months after the contract to rehabilitate the bridges was approved, the contractor handling the project mobilised workers to the site last Wednesday.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that there was jubilation in the university community when construction equipment were brought in.

    The road will be closed for six months to allow the reconstruction. Motorists will have to access the university through Illela-Sokoto route, which is about 20 kilometre to the university.

    The Dean of Students Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Magawata, said the management was elated by the construction work but said it could disrupt the activities if the industrial action by ASUU is called off. “When academic activities resume after the ASUU strike, students will make use of the Sokoto-Illela route to visit the campus. Certainly this development will bring about a lot of changes, which the management will roll out soon. Issues such as the new bus stop, duration of lectures and even a new school calendar are being looked into to prevent disruption of academics,” he said.

    Some students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, expressed mixed reactions. For Abdulsamad Aliyu, 200-Level Zoology, the reconstruction work is cheering news after months of fear that the bridges may collapse.

    “But my own concern is the alternative route provided by the school; it is a very long way, which is about an hour from town. In my opinion, the management should have created a short route within the campus before the contractor began work on the bridges. Many students would miss exam when the school resumes,” he said.

    Another student, Mubarak Ibrahim, 500-Level Agriculture, said: “This is a welcome development. At least, the anxiety that engulfs the the university community during in the rainy season will naturally end, but my appeal to the management is to consider the students staying off-campus and adjust the lecture timetable because of the distance of the alternative route.”

    Latifat Umar, a 200-Level student from the city campus, said: “It is a big challenge for us that will be going to the permanent site every week for Biochemistry lecture. It will be hell, considering the distance. Management should facilitate how the lecture will be rescheduled to hold in mini campus.”

    Mallam Bilya Maisa Dekifi, a resident, said: “We are enthusiastic about the development; people of Kwakwalawa village are very happy since the contractors arrived last week. Even though our businesses may suffer, I must say that we are pleased that a tragedy is being averted with the reconstruction work.”

     

  • Salute to Iyayi, hero of a struggle

    Salute to Iyayi, hero of a struggle

    •Osundare, Okai, Ribadu, Ofeimun, Ajibade mourn ex-ASUU chief

    He lived and died for the struggle. Born in 1947 at Ugbegun, Edo State, Festus Iyayi was a soldier and hero in his own right.

    Iyayi, a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), fought for the cause he believed in till the very end last week Tuesday. The news of his death hit the Nigerian airways like a tornado, leaving behind dust of uncertainty and disillusionment. According to many, Iyayi’s death on his way to Kano for a meeting between ASUU and the federal government, laid bare the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the masses.

    He is remembered for his passion for his country, the masses, the workers and creative writing. He was a fundamentalist, whose energy was channelled towards revolutionary movements and campaigns, believing that a better society is achievable with the right kind of leaders and masses, many have said. His convictions are seen in his callings writing, academia and unionism.

    He was an outstanding leader, who not only distinguished himself in all his callings but turned them into advocacy tools for the fight and struggle for a better society.

    His writing

    Even though he had a master’s degree in Industrial Economics from the Kiev Institute of Economics, in the former USSR, a Ph.D from the University of Bradford, England and lectured at the Department of Business Administration at the University of Benin, he stood out as a writer. Iyayi was a member of several literary organisations such as the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and Pan African Writers Association (PAWA).

    The man and his works became synonymous to revolutionary writer and literature.According to many, he was known for his radical standpoint on social and political issues, which is also seen in his works such as Violence (1979) The Contract (1982), Heroes (1986) by Longman and Awaiting Court Martial by Malthouse Press (1996).

    While employing a practical style of writing, he highlights societal ills by calling attention to the plights of the poor masses, workers, among others. His works criticise the current system where corruption and all sorts of ills are the order of the day, giving a vision of an alternative society.

    This style and preoccupation earned him the Commonwealth Prize for Literature in 1988, an award he won the same year he was detained after the union, ASUU, was banned.

    Although Violence was his first published creative work, his foray into the world of writing began much earlier. In 1968, he was a zonal winner in a Kennedy Essay Competition organised by the United States Embassy in Nigeria after graduating from Government College, Ughelli.

    His cause and death

    He was passionate about his dream for a better educational system. He was determined to become a change agent; and is reverred by many in the academia for his contribution to the welfare of academics across the nation. As lecturer, he was not just satisfied with the act of teaching alone while things were falling apart in the system. This quality earned him the president of the local branch of ASUU, known for its raditcal style of advocacy for academic and social welfare. He later rose to becoming the union’s president in 1986. In 1988, the union was briefly banned and Iyayi detained. Later, he was removed from his faculty position and, although was later returned the episode impacted greatly on his career, especially the delay in his been named a “professor”.

    True to the notion that a writer is a prophet of a sort, Iyayi’s words in his work, Heroes, “… those who carry the cross for society always get crucified in the end…”, came to pass in his case. His passion for a better educational system, the Nigerian students and cause of ASUU eventually led to his death. He was involved in a ghastly accident on his way to Kano to attend ASUU NEC meeting concerning the four-month strike by the union. The accident was allegedly caused by a reckless convoy of Kogi State Govenor Idris Wada.

    Scholars, writers and more have since not been able to stomach the loss. Their bitterness has been followed by all sorts of harsh words towards the government, especially the excesses of senior government officials and their “death-threatening” convoys.

    They shared their thoughts on the man, his life and death below.

    Ace poet and literary scholar,

    Prof Niyi Osundare

    “It is horrible…horrible loss, whose telling is beyond words. Personally, to encounter Festus was to get ready to fall in love with him. Natural. Unabashedly, unapologetically natural. Humorous and always loaded with funny anecdotes, Festus took the sting out of the scorpion of the Nigerian jungle by laughing and helping others to laugh at its countless foibles. Victim of incarceration, unwarranted sack, vilification, and other abuses, he was always ready to forge ahead. Utterly disenchanted with Nigeria’s present, he never lost hope about her future. Festus was a comrade who was also a friend, a fellow-traveller and a brother.

    He was one of our best: creative, energetic, dependable, and forthright. We were there in 1980 (with the then young and irrepressible Tunde Fatunde) when what we call ASUU today was in its infancy. Iyayi served the Union tirelessly and loyally, becoming its President in 1986, by popular acclamation. I worked with Iyayi, and saw him at close quarters. Fearless but fair, courageous but compassionate, demanding but decent, Iyayi was a great leader and an even greater follower, the kind who pressed on when others were seized by trepidation and despair. There is a painful logic in the fact he met his death while on a vital errand for his beloved ASUU.

    “Iyayi was a Balogun of the Barricades in our struggle against military dictatorship and our battle for Human Rights. He gave so generously, so valuably of himself and his inexhaustible physical and mental resources. Like the great Nelson Mandela, he could have said, without any fear of contradiction, that the struggle was his life.

    “And so Nigeria killed Iyayi. Nigeria, that dragon which feeds upon the most precious of its own eggs. We lost a gallant fighter and great patriot. Terrible. Unspeakably terrible. The patriot who laboured so hard to rid his country of violence has become a victim of her egregious violence.

    Yet another chapter in our running saga of waste … “

    Secretary-General, PAWA, Atukwei Okai:

    “Africa has lost a great son. We would miss him.”

    Activist and poet,

    Odia Ofeimun:

    “It is just horrible… not Festus of all people. He was one of the few truly good people this country has produced, a teacher of business administration who was also a wonderful novelist. Iyayi cared about and believed in people. He believed in people and was forever committed to their welfare. He fought for ASUU with all his might. His stand in ASUU was just him. Whether he was thrown in detention or denied his means of earning a livelihood, he never wavered.

    “He was a teacher of business administration, who was also a wonderful novelist. When it mattered to talk about commitment in literature, Iyayi wrote sensible literature, something sensible to anyone who believes he should not be afraid of his belief.”

    Executive Editor, The News, Kunle Ajibade:

    “It is terrible. It is a big tragedy because he suffered a lot for ASUU… look at how he died for ASUU. As a young lecturer, he was sacked because of his struggle for ASUU, came back and it took a long struggle before he was made a professor – all because of his struggle. Look at Festus now. It is a horrible story.”

    The presidential candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu

    “Personally, I have lost a friend who was always willing to provide a pillar of support. The breed of activism is once again deflated with the passage of Iyayi and in him Nigeria has lost a sincere patriot, proficient writer, thorough academic and dodged unionist.”

    Ribadu urged the federal government to bring to an immediate end the ASUU strike and move to improve the standard of the universities, a cause the late unionist died fighting for, saying such would immortalise his memory.

     

    Former ASUU General Secretary (1980 to 82),

    Prof Uzodinma Nwala:

    “Festus Iyayi emerged on the horizon of Nigerian socio-political history in 1986 in the struggle to ensure that university education remains a vital instrument for the development and transformation of the Nigerian society.

    “I was part of the social and ideological milieu in which Iyayi, as an iconic scholar and trade unionist, was born. When he emerged from the vicinity of the University of Benin in 1981 as young ASUU activist, his potential was unmistakable. He was a very dedicated and patriotic activist, unrelenting and loyal, ready to work 24 hours a day. He was very articulate; his logic was always simple but unassailable. He had an impressive and very respectful personality.

    “By 1986, ASUU was in search of a new leader to sustain the continuity of the lofty ideals of the organisation and even move it to higher levels. Who else, but Iyayi, who had emerged as the finest and most natural product and successor of the leadership of the movement.

    “If Festus Iyayi had not merged at the time he did in the history of ASUU, the story of ASUU would have been different. He was indeed one of the great pillars of modern ASUU. We shall miss him, but his memory lives forever.

    “He died under circumstances that are avoidable. The present ASUU strike is avoidable. The convoy that took Festus’ life portrays the abnormal features of the Nigerian State – a state that at times looks like Golgotha and its politics, the game that vampires play.”

    Former colleague at ASUU, Prof Salihu Bappa (Ahmadu Bello University)

    “Iyayi was my friend. We related on the level of ASUU. We related at the level of Nigerian authors. I have stayed in his house and with his family in Benin when he was a lecturer at the Department of Business Administration. His death would be a great loss to the Labour and Progressive movements, workers and all who cherish freedom in Nigeria. This is a very committed Nigerian, who is ready to go into detention on issues he believed in, especially on democracy, freedom and for the advancement of workers.”

    Former Member, House of Representative and past President of ANA, Dr Wale Okediran:

    “Prof Iyayi has been a very close friend of mine. He was somebody who was committed to literature, both on the national and regional levels. He and I had attended many conferences on the African sub-continent, particularly the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) in Accra, Ghana. He was somebody, whose literary activism extends beyond the Nigerian shores. His death is a very big shock and he would be badly missed.

    “The consolation is that in his lifetime, he gave his best and he was well adored by his students at the UNIBEN, his colleagues at ASUU movement and literary movement. To the end, he was on active service.

    President of ANA, Prof Remi Raji:

    “The death of Iyayi is really a sad commentary on the state of our infrastructure, the quality of our education and on the level of our civilisation as a democratic nation. That he was killed by the recklessness of a public office holder’s convoy makes it sadder and ironic. Iyayi was committed to the cause of proper funding and development of university education in Nigeria; he was to the very last a true hero. As writer, activist and scholar, he will be sorely missed.”

    Director, Niger State Book Development Agency, Baba Mohammed Dzukogi:

    “The saddest thing about his death, firstly, was that it was in the service of Nigerian students and lecturers. Secondly, it occurred because the inactivity of others because if government had fixed the universities very well. He probably wouldn’t have left his place to go and mediate on behalf of ASUU and Federal Government. The government killed him because of their inactivity to fix university which led to the strike.

    “The first time I met him was in Kaduna during the ANA Convention of 1996.

    He went about with his bag alone. He sat quietly…too quiet that at a point we were arguing before him and despite all the things we were saying, he didn’t utter a word. I asked who he was. I had read some of his interviews and discovered that he studied management, so, I became comfortable as a PHC specialist because I was just about five or six years old in ANA at that time. And sometimes, if you are just coming in for the first time and you studied something outside Literature or English, you can be a little bit intimidated by the presence of Grammarians and Literary scholars. But when I saw that he studied Business Administration or Management, I started feeling comfortable. He is such a brilliant activist.

    “His death has depleted the literary world but thank God some of us are coming up so there won’t be that gap. Although we would love to have him around, that is the way of nature – where no vacuum is allowed.

     

    ANA Vice President,

    Denja Abdullahi:

    “It was a tragic event that was clearly uncalled for and unwarranted, going by the circumstances that led to that occurrence. This is somebody that has been in the forefront for a better society. Iyayi has carved a niche for himself, when you talk of the revolutionary literature. I remember, very well, his novels: Contract, Heroes and Violence, are text that is used when we talk about revolutionary aesthetics. They are text that gave a vision of an alternative society by criticising the current system where you have corruption and all sorts of ills. He put textual materials to support his conviction.”

     

    President African Writers Forum (AfWF), Hyacinth Obunseh:

    “The most saddening news of the passing away of foremost writer and academic, Prof Iyayi comes as a rude shock and calls for legislation to stop and punish unbecoming recklessness of senior government functionaries. His family, academics and Nigerian literary community will miss his contributions to the growth of our national life.”