The Nation Newspaper

Tag: renegotiation

  • Renegotiation panel faults ASUU’s claim on Babalakin

    he Federal Government’s renegotiation panel on funding of education, among others, has faulted Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU)’s criticism of Chairman of the panel, Dr. Wale Babalakin.

    The lecturers accused the University of Lagos Pro-Chancellor of constituting himself into “a stumbling block of the negotiations process and accordingly discarded the cardinal principle of collective bargaining.”

    ASUU said that “Babalakin was seeking to introduce tuition fees to the Nigerian university system, adding that “any negotiation that considered an alternative funding of education apart from direct funding from the government treasury is unacceptable to it.”

    But a statement by the renegotiation team yesterday said:

    “Contrary to the assertion by the union, the views communicated by the Chairman of the committee, Dr. Wale Babalakin, are the collective views of the government re-negotiating team. These views were arrived at after extensive debate and were communicated in writing in the inception report that was delivered to ASUU on July 2017.

    “The team insisted on resolution of issues based on accurate data and verifiable information. The team is determined to avoid the pitfalls of previous negotiations, which have on certain occasions left loose ends that became the bases for future crises.

    “The team believes that the government should increase its funding of education. However, the team notes that based on the cost determined by the National Universities Commission (NUC) of above $3, 000 per student per course per annum, which has been accepted by ASUU, it will require about N1.8 trillion to fund university education alone, taking due cognisance of the level of enrolment of students.

    “This amount of money exceeds the total capital release made under the 2017 budget of the Federal Government. The team does not believe that the government is in a position to provide this amount of money in a sustainable manner for the length of time required to turn around the educational system in Nigeria.”

    The statement said the team believed that “to reposition the Nigerian university system, “there is the need to fund education from sources other than the government treasury, including an education bank and student loan scheme. The team is of the opinion that if the choice is between free education and good quality education, the team prefers the latter.”

    It said “there is need to measure the level of impact of the funding being received by our public universities through the identification and measurement of some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in line with the practice in developed and most developing economies, adding that “the ongoing negotiation can provide a veritable avenue to make appropriate recommendations that will place the Nigerian university system on the proper pedestal to attain its desired world-class status.”

  • Varsity union seeks renegotiation of 2009 agreement

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has urged the Federal Government to kick-start  re-negotiation of the SSANU/Federal Government 2009 agreement.

    In a communiqué issued after a workshop and NEC meeting on Tuesday at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, the union said the continued delay in kick-starting the re-negotiation of the agreement is detrimental to the growth of the education sector.

    The communiqué, signed by the union’s National President, Comrade Sampson Ugwoke, said the SSANU/FG 2009 agreement has been due for review since 2012 in line with the terms of the agreement that it should be reviewed every three years.

    “NEC-in-session noted that the continued delay in setting up a negotiation committee was not in the best interest of peace in our universities and called on government to immediately invite the union for discussion and negotiation.

    “NEC further advised the government that the membership of the negotiation team should not be tilted towards only teaching staff in the university, but be balanced to include registrars, bursars and representatives of other constituent groups in the system.”

    The communiqué also lamented the low budgetary allocation to the education sector, saying: “NEC in session noted with disappointment that the educational sector still remains highly underfunded, as the 2016 budgetary allocation to the educational sector is still extremely low.

    “NEC notes that the N403. 16 billion allocation is a far cry from the 26 per cent UNESCO standard.

    ‘’NEC in session notes that many countries with less incomes and population than Nigeria place more premium on budgetary allocation to education and finds it ironic that a government that promised to employ 500,000 teachers can devote meagre sums to the educational sector.”

  • Varsity union seeks renegotiation of 2009 agreement

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has urged the Federal Government to kick-start  re-negotiation of the SSANU/Federal Government 2009 agreement.

    In a communiqué issued after a workshop and NEC meeting on Tuesday at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, the union said the continued delay in kick-starting the re-negotiation of the agreement is detrimental to the growth of the education sector.

    The communiqué, signed by the union’s National President, Comrade Sampson Ugwoke, said the SSANU/FG 2009 agreement has been due for review since 2012 in line with the terms of the agreement that it should be reviewed every three years.

    “NEC-in-session noted that the continued delay in setting up a negotiation committee was not in the best interest of peace in our universities and called on government to immediately invite the union for discussion and negotiation.

    “NEC further advised the government that the membership of the negotiation team should not be tilted towards only teaching staff in the university, but be balanced to include registrars, bursars and representatives of other constituent groups in the system.”

    The communiqué also lamented the low budgetary allocation to the education sector, saying: “NEC in session noted with disappointment that the educational sector still remains highly underfunded, as the 2016 budgetary allocation to the educational sector is still extremely low.

    “NEC notes that the N403. 16 billion allocation is a far cry from the 26 per cent UNESCO standard.

    ‘’NEC in session notes that many countries with less incomes and population than Nigeria place more premium on budgetary allocation to education and finds it ironic that a government that promised to employ 500,000 teachers can devote meagre sums to the educational sector.”

    The union, therefore, called on the Federal Government to urgently make provision for a supplementary budget to bridge the shortfall in order to create greater focus on building the human resource more than the oil and gas sector.

  • ASUU: no renegotiation yet with Fed Govt

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday said no renegotiation can take place if its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government is not implemented.

    Unlike many other African countries, which vote a high percentage of the budgets to education, Nigeria votes a small percentage of its budget to the sector, the union said.

    It noted that successive governments, however, allowed acts of malfeasance to go unpunished.

    ASUU said huge funds were regularly siphoned through phoney projects.

    It said this did not encourage research and development.

    Members of the union restated their position yesterday at the Paul Hendricks Hall of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (UI), during a symposium titled: Education, Research and Development in Nigeria.

    Among the speakers were ASUU’s National Treasurer and former Chairman, UI branch, Dr. Ademola Aremu; incumbent Chairman, Dr. Segun Ajiboye; a former Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof Millicent Obajimi; Dr. Abass Abdulsalaam, Dr. Femi Afolabi, among others.

    The discussants stressed that their demand of full implementation of the agreement with the Federal Government remained the unshaken.

    They said several Nigerian leaders wanted to see public education dead, the same reason they established well equipped private universities at the expense of the masses.

    Several federal agencies and parastatals, such as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), among others, had died due to greed and nonchalance of Nigerian leaders.

    If care is not be taken, the union leaders said, public education would end up the same way.

    The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Julius Okojie was accused of conniving with the Federal Government to further underfund university education.

    If no Nigerian university is among the first 3,000 in the world, and UNESCO report had it that about 47 per cent of Nigerian children are out of school, then the struggle by ASUU to revamp the education standard was imperative because without knowledge and research, no nation can develop, the symbiosis insisted.

    While Nigerian legislators earn over N100m annually, University lecturers, professors earn less than N3 million. Despite this, while Ghana budgets 31 per cent to education and Uganda budgets 27% to education, Nigeria budgets 8.5 per cent to her education sector, a situation considered appalling.

    The union members therefore insisted that the ongoing strike was not going to be broken unless their demands to properly fund education in the country were fully met, advising the Federal Government to heed the demands.