….Says Federal Government not ready to fund education
The hope of seeing students of public universities returning to classes in the country anytime soon may just be a wishful thinking as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed that as long as the federal government will not
prioritise funding the university, its members are not ready to return to the classrooms anytime soon
The Lagos Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Prof Olusiji Sowande dropped this warning at a press briefing held on Tuesday at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago Iwoye.
Prof Sowande said that the resolve of the university lecturers is that it is either the government concede to the request of ASUU to begin to fund public universities properly just as it accepted to do in the agreement it willfully entered into with the union in 2009 or the seven months old strike dragged on until the government was ready to do the needful.
The ASUU Coordinator said as against the falsehood and other propaganda being pushed out to the public by the federal government, the ongoing strike was about saving the soul of the public universities to ensure it did not go the way of the destruction of the public primary and secondary schools.
Prof Sowande urged parents not to fall for the lies of the federal government but to rather support ASUU in demanding for proper funding of the universities saying that the intenation of the federal government was to destroy public universities after which parents would be force to patronise private universities and of course, pay through their noses.
He explained that “let me state very clearly that the reason for our ongoing strike is mainly on issues bothering on the survival of public Universities in Nigeria and the sustenance of University Autonomy.
“Esentially, the issues involved include government’s reluctance to fulfil the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement bothering on provision of funds for revitalization of dilapidating infrastructure (hostel accommodation, befitting lecture theatres, state-of-the-art laboratories, good working environment for lecturers, etc)
Others are payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), setting up of Visitation Panels for the purpose of accountability and good governance of our public Universities, arresting the trend of proliferation of Universities at both Federal and State levels while neglecting the funding of existing ones and the renegotiation of 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement”.
ASUU said that the issue of enrolment into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) was deliberately introduced by government to draw away the attention of the public from the insincerity, lack of interest and disregard for the education of the teeming Nigerian youth especially University students.
He disclosed that it was shameful and disheartening that in the course of the strike and the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, the government had since July witheld salaries of their members in federal universities under the guise that members did not enrol on IPPIS wondering why government that should uphold the truth, fairness and justice has become repressive, oppressive and blackmailer of its own citizens.
Prof Sowande dscribed the statement recently credited to the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, that 57,000 out of 71,700 lecturers were already on IPPIS as that of the highest level of falsehood from an office that should be respected for propagation of truth.
The Lagos Zonal Coordinator explained that members of ASUU who are on the IPPIS can’t be more than 8000 and this he said comprised of some lecturers working with teaching hospitals, some who are nearing retirement and felt that they do not have much problem and some of their colleagues who were just employed this year but were given the condition of enrollment on IPPIS before they could be given the appointment.
He said “in our various discussions on resolving the crisis, government has been appealing to our members to enrol on IPPIS while awaiting the conclusion of integrity test on University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) software. Does the government need to appeal and beg that we enrol on IPPIS if such quantum of members had enrolled? Our position is that ASUU members and public Federal Universities should be exempted from IPPIS in the interim while conducting integrity test on UTAS.
Prof Sowande revaled that “it is important to inform that givernment is owing our members the arrears of unpaid full salaries in all Federal Universities from July 2020 to October 2020 (4 months); arrears of unpaid salaries to some members in University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU) and some Federal Universities from February 2020 to June 2020 (5 months).
The union also accused the Accountant General of the Federation of sitting on the check off dues of the union amounting to millions of naira deducted from what it described as “amputated” salaries paid from February to June 2020 to its members saying that the lecturers were well aware that these arm twisting tactics were to weaken them but they remained unfazed and would not batt eyelids until government arise to its responsibility of funding the university education.
He said “we are also compelled to inform the general public that the most important reason why this strike will linger is government’s adoption of blackmail, falsehood and intimidation as well as its lack of willingness to commit fund for the revitalization of dilapidated infrastructure in our public universities.
“Government does not see Education of its citizens as public good but rather unfortunately, as a business. While government is committed to using public funds to bail out banks, electricity distribution companies, and airline operators, which are their private investments, the excuse of unavailability of fund for revitalization of our public universities is not acceptable to our Union.
“Parents and students should not be persuaded that ASUU is asking for too much money for the survival of public universities. Parents should please note that, if our struggle fails, they will pay through their nose to send their children to university, that is, if many students will not drop out of school.
“Government is in arears of more than N200 billion naira of revitalization fund and our Union is not insisting that this should be paid at once rather, quarterly or biannually but faithfully. Regrettably, there is no sincere commitment on the part of government on this all important issue.
Our EAA has been calculated and verified to be N40 billion up to 2013. Several millions is still being owed from 2014 to 2020. While we are still considering government’s proposal to release N30 billion, government demonstrated its insincerity by insisting that it has to be disbursed through IPPIS instead of releasing the fund to the Universities.
“Government was also quick to announce the proposal to pay N30 billion as part of our outstanding EAA to the public with a view to blackmailing members our Union. Despite the fact that this is a budget season, the over two years promise to mainstream our EAA into the annual budget in order to end the EAA payment problem is not being actualized.
“Our understanding and inference on the state of discussion on the ongoing strike is that government is very comfortable with our students being at home and will do everything possible to keep them at home till next year while pushing the blame on ASUU”.
Some of the union leaders in attendance at the press briefing include the Chairman, ASUU-OOU, Dr. Joel Okewale, Chairman, ASUU-FUNAAB, Dr Adebayo Oni and Chairman, ASUU-UNILAG, Dr Dele Ashiru, among others.
