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Tag: ASUU

  • Governors urge ASUU to end strike

    The Southsouth and Southeast governors have urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to consider the students’ plight and call off its strike.

    In a communiqué after its meeting in Enugu, read by Cross Rivers State Governor Liyel Imoke, the governors enjoined ASUU to resolve the issues through dialogue.

    They said the decision of who would become the country’s president in 2015 lies with the electorate in accordance with extant democratic tenets and lauded Nigerians for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan in his drive to transform the country.

    They said: “We thank Nigerians for their continued support for the administration of President Jonathan, who they elected overwhelmingly. We urge Mr. President to remain focused on governance and not allow himself to be distracted.

    “We note that the decision of who will become the president of this country in 2015 will be made by the electorate in line with the democratic tenets and powers. It should not be usurped by any group or individual.”

    The governors called for continued dialogue in resolving issues of national interest and pledged to strengthen economic ties between the zones.

    They hailed the security agencies for managing security challenges and the Federal Government for the massive reduction in crude oil theft.

    The meeting was attended by Governors of Akwa Ibom, Chief Godswill Akpabio; Abia, Theodore Orji; Anambra, Peter Obi; Enugu, Sullivan Chime; Ebonyi, Martins Elechi; Delta, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, while Bayelsa Governor, Dickson Seriake, was represented by his deputy.

  • ASUU to Jonathan: Media chat empty, less comforting

    ASUU to Jonathan: Media chat empty, less comforting

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday criticised President Goodluck Jonathan media chat on the country’s 53rd Independence Day celebration, describing it as empty and less comforting.

    The union said President Jonathan’s media chat has succeeded in further showing Nigerians the clueless nature of the leadership to solving pressing problems of insecurity, corruption and the comatose education sector.

    ASUU in a release signed by the Chairman of the University of Ibadan Chapter, Dr Olusegun Ajiboye, titled: “Nigeria at 53: No message of hope for Nigerians Yet,” said the hope that Nigerians had to listen to practical solutions to the problems in the country was dashed when they listened to the “empty” interview which offered no solutions.

    While picking holes in the President Jonathan’s chat, ASUU bemoaned the quality of the nation’s leadership and its failure to provide solution to problems affecting the masses, especially the poor.

    The union asked Nigerians to prevail upon “this government to consider the poor and the children of the poor by giving the needed and necessary attention to public education in Nigeria.”

    ASUU said the presidential team needs to work on the president to bring messages of hope and not dampen the morale of the already dejected Nigerians.

    He said: “Nigerians were all disappointed at President Jonathan’s media chat on the eve on the 53rd independence anniversary of the country. Many Nigerians expected their President to come out with practical solutions and cogent policy statements on urgent, burning national issues were greatly disappointed at the drab media chat. The President cannot be quoted on any of the issues raised during the interview. Most of his answers were not only evasive but lame. Critical issues, such as Boko Haram insurgency, lingering ASUU strike were all treated with mere disdain by the President. The closure of Nigerian universities for upwards of three months received a lackadaisical treatment from Mr. President.

    “Nigerians were at sea when their President and Commander- in- Chief was asked questions on one Boko Haram leader, and the President could only replied that “I don’t know him”. Mr. President, do you need to sit down in town hall meetings before you know the terrorists inflicting lots of pains and agonies on your people daily? Did Obama need to know Osama bin Laden before he took decisive action to end his reign of terror?”

     

  • Strike continues, says ASUU

    Strike continues, says ASUU

    University teachers said yesterday that their strike will go on — 89 days after it began.

    This is in spite of the intervention by Vice President Namadi Sambo in bringing the lecturers back to the negotiation table.

    The teachers are seeking proper funding of education and the payment of their N87 billion earned allowances.

    These are part of the 2009 agreement between the teachers and the government. The government has offered N30 billion for the earned allowances and made available N100billion for projects on the campuses. The lecturers rejected the offer. The strike has been on since July 1.

    The latest position of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella association of the teachers to go on with the strike, was made known yesterday by University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter Chairman Dr. Karo Ogbinika, in a statement.

    According to him, ASUU last month pulled out of the negotiation with the Federal Government, which was represented by Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, based on the government’s insincerity and non-commitment.

    He said the Presidency intervened, calling for another round of meetings with Vice President Namadi Sambo last week which, according to ASUU, also ended in a stalemate.

    The union said it was disappointed because it hoped the Presidency’s intervention would dampen the tension the strike had generated; but, rather, the government was re-echoing the same stance by Suswam, which was why ASUU withdrew from the negotiation.

    ASUU said: “After the meeting on September 19 with the Vice-President, it is clear that the Federal Government is merely paying lip service to education in Nigeria and deceiving the public on its commitment to its transformation agenda.

    “The Nigerian people should not be deceived. How can there be a meaningful transformation when the education sector is neglected and gradually taken over by private entrepreneurs, including government functionaries who are busy bulding private universities with stolen funds in and outside Nigeria. Can these universities be truly called private?

    “ASUU is assuring Nigerians that it will not back out in its struggle to ensure that the government is made to do what is right in the education sector. This is a commitment that all members of the union have vowed to pursue to its logical conclusion.”

    The union said it had reported back to its various zones many of which still insisted the strike must continue.”

    Hundreds of students of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) yesterday gave the Federal Government a one week ultimatum to meet all the demands of ASUU or face the wrath of students.

    The students, who staged a peaceful protest, urged the Federal Government to respect and implement the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement.

    Addressing the protesters at the BUK gate, the university’s Students Union President, Sani Ibrahim, said they were forced to stage the protest, “because we are tired of staying at home”. “Our mates in other countries are in school; why should the case of Nigerian students be different?”

    “As part of the struggle to fight for our right is being pursued, I will like to salute our students for their patience while receiving the negative consequences of bad governance. We believe that the delay in resuming lectures in our universities is not only lamentable but also devastating. We believe even more strongly that now is the time to let our leaders know that enough is enough and we shall wake up and say ‘no’ to injustice being meted out to Nigerian students.

    “We also call on the government to review the annual budget for the education sector from eight per cent to 26 per cent, so as to ensure adequate rehabilitation of infrastructure in our universities, including hostels, laboratories, potable water and constant supply of electricity.

    “We are calling on ASUU to give government more opportunity to dialogue so as to quickly resolve the differences in the best interest of Nigerian students. We are giving ASUU and the Federal Government one week to sort things out and resume lectures; otherwise Nigerian students will look for other alternatives to fight for our right. Education is our right and no one should take it away from us,” Ibrahim noted.

    But for the intervention of the police, who pleaded with the protesting students, they would have taken to the streets.

    ASUU members at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) insisted yesterday that they would not return to work, until the Federal Government resolves the issues.

    This was contrary to a report that the management was already consulting with the striking lecturers on the need to call back the students by end of this month.

    The union urged Vice-Chancellor Prof. Femi Mimiko to toe the path of rule of law and refrain from any desperate act of self-help in his attempt to reopen the university.

    In a statement by their counsel, Mr. Charles Titiloye, the union noted with great concern the threat by the vice-chancellor to re-open the University for academic activities, despite of the strike.

    The union warned that it would not allow contract lecturers or newly employed graduate fellows to be used to resume teaching in the school.

    NUT gives two weeks ultimatum

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) yesterday issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government and university teachers to resolve their problems.
    The NUT President, Mr Michael Olukoya, gave the ultimatum in Abuja at the end of the union’s meeting with teachers’ representatives across the country.
    Olukoya said members of the union would not hesitate to close down schools, if the two parties failed to reach an agreement after two weeks.
    He described the strike as “nationalistic, patriotic and self-sacrificing”, adding, “We will not hesitate to shut down the education system in the country, if the government fails to fulfil or honour the agreement it entered into with the lecturers.”
    The NUT president described Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s call for a complete overhaul of teachers’ qualification as unacceptable to the NUT.
    He said the blame should be put at the door steps of employers and not teachers.
    “NUT will forever be proud of all its teachers, believing that all employment agencies are corruption-free, disciplined and quality conscious in their employment drives,” Olukoya said.
    Olukoya also urged the governors of Kogi, Benue and Cross River States to honour the agreement they had with teachers on the payment of 27.5 per cent teachers salary structure.
    Also yesterday, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) said it might begin a nationwide strike on Monday, if its members are not paid their salaries.
    Mr Promise Adewusi, the association’s General Secretary, at a news conference in Abuja, said the strike was being considered to protest against the stoppage of the salaries of university workers without any justifiable explanation.
    He said the strike was sequel to a letter written to the Vice-Chancellors of the affected federal universities and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim.
    Adewusi said letters were similarly written to the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike and the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie.
    He, however, stressed that SSANU members would be directed to proceed on the strike if the government refused to pay the salaries.
    Adewusi advised the vice-chancellors, the SGF and the ministers of Labour and Education to take steps to remedy the situation.
    “The non-payment of our members in the universities, when some other federal universities have since paid the August salaries, is viewed by our members as an act of punishment against them for working and this has made them restive.
    “We, therefore, demand that the August salaries of our members in those universities be paid to them on or before Friday, Sept. 27, 2013,” he said, adding: “Failure to pay by the stipulated date will be regarded as a conclusive act of aggression against the economic rights and interests of our members.’’
    Also, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu, the SSANU chairman in the Federal University of Technology, Minna, called on the Federal Government to pay the workers so as to promote industrial harmony.
    Aliyu said it was unfair for the government not to pay their salaries, considering the fact that SSANU had employed dialogue rather than embark on a strike as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU).
    “Government should not punish us because ASUU is on strike. If that is what they intend to do, it means they are inviting more trouble in the system.

  • Mission to end ASUU strike

    Mission to end ASUU strike

    In their ongoing efforts to end their lecturers’ strike, students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, have visited the Emir of Katsina and Galadima of Kano. AWWAL MIJINYAWA (400-Level Law) and ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU (300-Level Mass Communication) report.

    A week after they visited the Sultan of Sokoto and Emir of Zazzau in Sokoto and Kaduna states to seek their intervention in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), last Tuesday, took their campaign to the Emir of Katsina.

    Led by Abubakar Aliyu Rafindadi, president of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), they also visited the Galadima of Kano to urge the monarchs to prevail on the government and ASUU to embrace peace.

    No fewer than 60 students converged in front of the SUG secretariat at 7:30am for the mission. By 9am, they left the secretariat for Katsina to see Alhaji Abdulmumeeni Kabir Usman.

    There was a mild drama between the protesters and security guards at the palace when they arrived in a convoy at 12:30pm. They were prevented from entering the palace because the students were singing Aluta songs.

    It took the intervention of senior officials of the palace to douse the tension, and the students were allowed to see the emir on the ground that they stop singing.

    Addressing the Emirate Council, Abubakar said the students were in the palace to seek the emir’s intervention in the protracted ASUU strike. He said: “We are here to formally lodge our complaint against the Federal Government and our lecturers, who are out to make good future impossible for us and by extension the country.”

    Abubakar argued that since education remained focal point of the government’s Transformation Agenda, President Goodluck Jonathan should make provision for adequate funding of sector to improve quality. He said the lecturers’ action was not helping the already bastardized system, urging ASUU to look for another means in agitating for its demands. He told the monarch to intervene in the crisis to save Nigeria’s education from total collapse.

    Responding, Alhaji Usman commended the students for using peaceful means in channeling their grievances. He said: “This first step you have taken is the right step; you followed the due process as Islam religion prescribed. Instead of taking to violence, you all came in peace and harmony and we must hear what you have to say and show sympathy.”

    The emir regretted that the quality of education remained on a steady decline, saying what is seen in public institutions today never happened in the past. He noted that there was emphasis on quality in the past while hostels and classrooms were conducive for learning. “Today, hostels are not even habitable; everything is dilapidated. Even though the country faces several problems, bad education remains the greatest threat to the progress of any society,” he said.

    Alhaji Usman assured the students that he would channel their grievances to the authority and do follow up. He told the students to remain peaceful in their demonstration to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the protest. He said he would do all within his capacity to ensure that the government and ASUU return to the negotiation table and resolve the issues.

    Abubakar later presented the students’ protest letter to the emir.

    The students arrived in Kano at 6:30pm. Their meeting with Galadima of Kano, Alhaji Tijjani Hashim, was brief.

    After Abubakar explained the reason for the vsist, Alhaji Hashim assured the students that he would brief the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, about their complaints. He said he would ensure that a documented copy of the students’ grievances would be handed over to the Vice President Namadi Sambo, for action.

  • ‘Blame ASUU for falling standard’

    ‘Blame ASUU for falling standard’

    The President University of Nigeria Alumni Association (UNAA), Lagos State Chapter, Andrew Oru has blamed the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for falling standard of education in universities due to incessant strikes that take long to be resolved between the teachers and the government.

    Oru, who is also a lawyer said in an interview that the lecturers fail to put the interest of the students, parents and guardians into consideration before embarking on strikes. He added that the negative impact of strikes on the nation’s economy is immeasurable.

    He said much as it is the responsibility of the government to take care of the lecturers the lecturers also should take the interest of their students into consideration in anything they do.

    “While we do not advocate that teachers should go with nothing especially because of the way politicians have messed up the environment and made everybody to suffer and remain in want even in the midst of plenty I still believe that the teachers themselves should be reasonable in their demands,” he said.

    He pointed out that members of the union are not above board in the discharge of their duties as they compel students to buy mimeographs (handouts), don’t go to classes regularly and do other businesses during office hours yet collect their salaries.

    He said: “The lecturers are not actually doing the much they are supposed to do. They are doing less than what they are even getting because they are not focused to the job and that is why the standard of education is dropping.

    “Nobody is holding anybody down somewhere; if you feel dissatisfied with the system you quit and not destroy it. You cannot destroy the system simply because you are dissatisfied.

    “It is not compulsory for them to remain teachers. They can go and do some other things that they consider more profitable because at the end of the day the students are suffering, the parents of the children are suffering, educational standard is dropping and the effect on the society is negative, some immeasurable damage done to the economy and the environment.”

    Oru said people are no longer interested in sending their children to the nation’s universities because the standard is low and consequently the attention to universities in Nigeria is dropping.

    “ASUU should concentrate their efforts first of all in restoring the nations’ high standard of education so that the children of all the people who are policy makers would remain in the country and that would compel the them to have a better look at what is happening on campuses”, he said.

    “They should come back and improve on the standard of education first before they begin to talk of wages. It is because of the falling standard of education that makes those who can afford it to send their children abroad and not necessarily because they have the money”, he continued

    Oru said the government has done so well for ASUU and the universities. He noted that the problem of ASUU and universities did not start today, adding that the Goodluck Jonathan administration has actually taken some steps towards addressing the conditions in the universities.

    He has, therefore, appealed to the lecturers to reconsider their position and come up with more accommodative and realisable demands that could be managed by both parties adding that they should listen to the decision and go back to the class room now.

    He said UNAA is doing its best in to provide amenities for its alma mater, however, he said the impact cannot really be meaningful when the students are out of school.

  • Mission to end ASUU strike

    Mission to end ASUU strike

    A week after they visited the Sultan of Sokoto and Emir of Zazzau in Sokoto and Kaduna states to seek their intervention in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, students of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), last Tuesday, took their campaign to the Emir of Katsina.

    Led by Abubakar Aliyu Rafindadi, president of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), they also visited the Galadima of Kano to urge the monarchs to prevail on the government and ASUU to embrace peace.

    No fewer than 60 students converged in front of the SUG secretariat at 7:30am for the mission. By 9am, they left the secretariat for Katsina to see Alhaji Abdulmumeeni Kabir Usman.

    There was a mild drama between the protesters and security guards at the palace when they arrived in a convoy at 12:30pm. They were prevented from entering the palace because the students were singing Aluta songs.

    It took the intervention of senior officials of the palace to douse the tension, and the students were allowed to see the emir on the ground that they stop singing.

    Addressing the Emirate Council, Abubakar said the students were in the palace to seek the emir’s intervention in the protracted ASUU strike. He said: “We are here to formally lodge our complaint against the Federal Government and our lecturers, who are out to make good future impossible for us and by extension the country.”

    Abubakar argued that since education remained focal point of the government’s Transformation Agenda, President Goodluck Jonathan should make provision for adequate funding of sector to improve quality. He said the lecturers’ action was not helping the already bastardized system, urging ASUU to look for another means in agitating for its demands. He told the monarch to intervene in the crisis to save Nigeria’s education from total collapse.

    Responding, Alhaji Usman commended the students for using peaceful means in channeling their grievances. He said: “This first step you have taken is the right step; you followed the due process as Islam religion prescribed. Instead of taking to violence, you all came in peace and harmony and we must hear what you have to say and show sympathy.”

    The emir regretted that the quality of education remained on a steady decline, saying what is seen in public institutions today never happened in the past. He noted that there was emphasis on quality in the past while hostels and classrooms were conducive for learning. “Today, hostels are not even habitable; everything is dilapidated. Even though the country faces several problems, bad education remains the greatest threat to the progress of any society,” he said.

    Alhaji Usman assured the students that he would channel their grievances to the authority and do follow up. He told the students to remain peaceful in their demonstration to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the protest. He said he would do all within his capacity to ensure that the government and ASUU return to the negotiation table and resolve the issues.

    Abubakar later presented the students’ protest letter to the emir.

    The students arrived in Kano at 6:30pm. Their meeting with Galadima of Kano, Alhaji Tijjani Hashim, was brief.

    After Abubakar explained the reason for the vsist, Alhaji Hashim assured the students that he would brief the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, about their complaints. He said he would ensure that a documented copy of the students’ grievances would be handed over to the Vice President Namadi Sambo, for action.

  • ASUU strike will end soon – NUC chief

    ASUU strike will end soon – NUC chief

    The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie, on Wednesday said he is confident that the protracted strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will soon be called off.

    Okojie, who spoke in Abuja at a media parley with journalists, said the commission was doing everything within its powers to ensure a speedy resolution of the issues raised by ASUU so that students could return school.

    “We are part of the system and we understand the issues, we are meeting with members of the union all the time and the issues are being tackled.

    “So, we are optimistic the strike will soon be called off and our children can go back to school in the shortest possible time.’’

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that he also reacted to the call by ASUU for NUC to be scrapped, saying “the call is not in good faith as the commission has not gone to sleep over its duties.”

    Also speaking on the recurrent disagreements between the commission and some professional bodies over accreditation and running of certain courses by some universities, Okojie acknowledged that there were issues that needed to be resolved between both parties.

    “There is no country in the world where regulatory bodies and professional bodies go to regulate at the same time.

    “So, it is true we are having problems with professional bodies in carrying out our mandate, but the issues too will soon be resolved and we can move on.

    The executive secretary, who said the commission had closed many faculties not fit to run courses in certain universities, admitted that; “it is not easy to be a regulator.”

    According to him, the commission was “silently regulating the system’’ having to also pay professional fees and encourage professors to do accreditation.

     

  • ASUU: strike will improve education

    ASUU: strike will improve education

    •Suswam enforces ‘no work, no pay’ on BSU lecturers

    the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Nasir Fagge, said yesterday that the ongoing strike by lecturers of public universities is a sacrifice for the nation’s better future.

    Fagge told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that unless the deficits in the education sector, especially the university system, were addressed once and for all, there would be no development.

    NAN reports that the lecturers, under the aegis of ASUU, on June 30, embarked on what it described as comprehensive, total and indefinite strike in public universities across the country.

    The lecturers are asking for the implementation of some aspects of an agreement they jointly entered into with the Federal government in 2009.

    Fagge regretted that the strike has dragged on.

    According to him, it is worrisome that ASUU has remained adamant because its demands must be met.

    He said the industrial action was a sacrifice needed to salvage the nation’s economy.

    “I sincerely want to call on all concerned, especially students and parents, to bear with us as well as join hands with us in the struggle to right the wrongs in our education sector once and for all, for the good of us all and that of the country.

    “I know it is quite a difficult time for us but I also want to state that what we are doing is for our own good as well as ensure that strikes become rare, as a weapon to get things done in our system.

    “We also want to ensure that there is sincerity and respect for mutual agreements by parties in order to attain a common goal for the good of our dear country,” he said.

    Fagge, however, hailed the Supervising Minister for Education, Nyesom Wike, for meeting with ASUU Executive Committee to resolve the protracted strike.

    Senate President David Mark yesterday urged the Federal Government, the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerians Universities (ASUU) and the 36 states to reach an agreement on how to end the strike.

    The ASUU strike, Mark regretted, has had a negative impact on the nation’s education sector.

    He said it has, therefore, become necessary for legislative solution to be introduced into the lingering crisis.

    Mark spoke in Abuja at a two-day conference of National Assembly and 36 States’ Houses of Assembly Committees on Education with the theme: Transforming Nigerian’s Education Sector.

    The government and other stakeholders, he said, must understand that education is among the greatest assets a country can bequeath to its people.

    Mark said: “We must place proper premium on it by adequately funding it to achieve desired results.”

    Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam has made good his threat that he would enforce the “no work no pay” policy on the striking lecturers of the Benue State University (BSU).

    The governor said any lecturer, who does not resume work next month, would not be paid his or her salary.

    Suswam spoke in Makurdi, the state capital, when he hosted the university’s management.

    He said the university would reopen as from next month, adding that any lecturer who refuses to return to work would not be paid.

    Suswam, who said the state was not owing the lecturers of the university, wondered why they continued to be on a sympathy strike for almost three months.

    BSU’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charity Angya, who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Nicholas Ada, told the governor that the management had met with ASUU on the need to call off the strike.

    He stressed that at the time of meeting with the governor, the management had not heard from ASUU.

  • Civil society tackles poor education standard

    In order to address the dwindling standard of education in the country, activists have suggested that all private schools with unqualified teachers should be banned.

    Also suggested was a policy by which public office holders and their families should not have access to foreign education.

    These recommendations were made in Lagos, during a discourse organised by a coalition of civil societies, One Voice.

    The group, which decried the falling standard of education, noted that the problem is not only at the university level.

    One Voice contended that there were scores of primary and secondary schools that lacked qualified teacher, adding “what do you expect a teacher who cannot make a correct sentence to teach the students?”

    They advised that the government should upgrade teachers’ training schools with adequate facilities and stop the current practice whereby “teaching is seen as a fall-back for those who cannot get jobs.”

    The discourse had representatives from Centre for Constitutional Governance; Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP; CLEEN Foundation; Humanity Services Project and Centre for Rights and Grass Roots Initiatives, among others.

    One Voice lamented that despite UNESCO’s recommendation that education be allocated 26 per cent of the budget, Nigeria was yet to implement it.

    As a matter of urgency, the group called on the federal government to consider slashing the constituency allowances of National Assembly members and channelling the other half to meeting the Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU’s demands.

    The group said teachers should be involved in examination activities, bodies and ensure that all examination reports are published.

    It urged ASUU to continue the struggle and called on parents and students to show solidarity with the union in order to put a stop to deteriorating and low standard education.

    The group called for inclusion of the tenets of traditional education and utilisation of research findings in managing the country’s education.

    “The constant upgrading of facilities, infrastructures and equipment should be done annually through autonomous statutory budget that the executive cannot touch or circumvent.

    “Welfare of teachers through salary review and allowances as well as future housing scheme should be guaranteed to avoid unnecessary strikes in the education sector and more qualified teachers employed to curb the present shortage.

    “Corruption should be eliminated to the barest minimum by all stakeholders; performance should be regarded more than paper qualification and anti-education policies should be abolished,” the group said.

  • Strike will improve education sector – ASUU

    Strike will improve education sector – ASUU

    The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Nasir Fagge, said on Tuesday that the current strike by lecturers of public universities in the country was a sacrifice for better things to come.

    Fagge told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that unless the deficits in the education sector, especially the university system, were addressed once and for all, there would be no development.

    NAN reports that the lecturers, under the aegis of ASUU, had on June 30 embarked on what it had described as comprehensive, total and indefinite strike in public universities across the country.

    The lecturers are asking for the implementation of some aspects of an agreement they jointly entered into with the Federal government in 2009.

    According to Fagge, it is regrettable that the strike is protracted, and that the decision of ASUU to remain adamant until its demands are fully met can seem uncomfortable and worrisome.

    He said the industrial action was a sacrifice needed to salvage the entire economy of the country.

    “I sincerely want to call on all concerned, especially students and parents, to bear with us, as well as join hands with us in the struggle to right the wrongs in our education sector once and for all, for the good of us all and that of the country.

    “I know it is quite a difficult time for us but I also want to state that what we are doing is for our own good, as well as ensure that strikes become rare, as a weapon to get things done in our system.

    “We also want to ensure that there is sincerity and respect for mutual agreements by parties in order to attain a common goal for the good of our dear country,” he said.

    Fagge, however, lauded the supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, for finding time to meet with the Executive Committee of ASUU, in a bid to find a lasting solution to the protracted strike.

    The unionist also commended the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and other stakeholders for their concern and attempts to end the strike.