Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has ruled out suspending its six-month-long strike.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, President of ASUU, made the announcement at a press conference at the University of Abuja on Tuesday.
Osodeke accused the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which is chaired by Dr. Chris Ngige as “Conciliator,” of constantly adding to the chaos in the resolution process.
ASUU went on strike on February 14 to press its demand for government investment in the nation’s university infrastructure, as well as payment of members’ salaries through the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), among other things.
According to ASUU President, the Union will never suspend its strike, but will instead ensure that it ends permanently.
“ASUU therefore boldly declares that, for some inexplicable reason, the Minister of Labour and Employment has assumed the role of unabashed protagonist in our ongoing dispute with the government of Nigeria.”
“Previously, Dr. Ngige told anyone who would listen that he was not the employer of university academics and advised the union to march to the Ministry of Education.” Nigerians may be wondering why he has suddenly turned around and become an impediment to a peaceful resolution of the ongoing crisis.
“The union stated that it remains committed to making the Nigerian university system internationally competitive and for its products to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers anywhere in the world.”
“We thank the throngs of Nigerians for identifying with our vision in this regard, and we especially thank our students for their support and sacrifices” (including our members who are running their postgraduate programmes).
“While we are as concerned as you are because we share a common interest in the Nigeria project, ASUU will continue to be guided by the sacred canons of integrity, objectivity, and responsibility to which both academics and media practitioners subscribe.”
“It is our sincere hope and desire that the current groundswell of interest will result in a convergence of solutions to this avoidable crisis in the overall interest of Nigeria.” “The fight goes on,” he said.
He insisted that if Ngige truly intended to be a “conciliator,” he would not be putting roadblocks in the way of completing a process that has dragged on for more than five years.
“As the country’s chief labor ministry, the Ministry of Labour and Employment is primarily expected to investigate and resolve disputes between employers and employees.”
“Normally, the ministry will await reports of disputes by either side to the disputes for resolution.” When the Minister becomes aware of a dispute, he or she must communicate his or her own proposal for dispute resolution to the parties or their representatives.
“However, ASUU has always had serious reservations about the claim of “conciliation” by someone who has taken sides in the dispute, or by an outspoken participant in the crisis, such as the current Minister of Labour and Employment.” It is incompatible with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions on Collective Bargaining (98, 151, and 154)
“It is against the principle of natural justice and the doctrine of equality for Dr. Ngige to assume the role of conciliator when he carries himself as if he has personal scores to settle with ASUU and shoots down the Union everywhere it matters,” he added.
Concerning public university funding, he stated that it has become a habit for government officials to talk tough about billions and trillions of naira whenever the thorny issues of education and health sector funding come up for discussion.
He lamented, however, that various sums of money in the same region that could have been deployed for human capacity development and public good usually evaporate into thin air at the end of the day!
“We are not surprised, therefore, that the leadership of the Ministry of Labour and Employment could condescend to the point of denigrating the import of massive injection of funds into the University Education sub-sector as they tried miserably to dismiss the vexing issue of funding Nigerian public universities and uplifting the country’s intellectual capital.”
“ASUU believes that the concept of fund availability is a dynamic process.” For example, the government can raise funds from a variety of sources, including non-budgetary sources such as stamp duty, GSM, and alcoholic taxes.
“We are appalled by recent calls by top government functionaries at both the federal and state levels to establish more universities at a time when agencies led by the same Chief Executives are under severe financial pressure,” he said.
In response to the acclaimed ASUU breakaway faction, Congress of University Academics (CONUA), Osodeke stated that the union was unaware of any recognized official faction.
