Post-IPPIS era: The way forward for ASUU
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU’s) protracted running battle with the Federal Government of Nigeria seems to have been over for now, with the recent removal of ASUU members from the contentious Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Kudos to the President Ahmed Bola Tinubu-led administration who recently ordered that the academic staff, and in fact, the university community be removed from IPPIS, an issue that has lingered since 2006, with successive governments turning blind eye to it.
No wonder ASUU leadership and its allies have hailed the development, describing it as a landmark achievement on the part of the Federal Government.
Recall that this administration had before now ordered part payment of ASUU members, seized 9-month salaries, a fall out of the last ASUU strike, that crippled the nation’s seat of knowledge for nearly a year. Good decision no doubt!
And now that IPPIS has been stepped down for ASUU members,the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) should be maximised to the betterment of the university community and the nation at large. This has been the dream of ASUU for a long while now.
The Union had even during the strike argued that their members’ duties go beyond just teaching. According to them, their duties include research and community service, so even when they had stopped teaching, other segments of their functions were still running, an argument the then Federal Government refused to succumb to.
We equally suggest that the Federal Government should look into the proposed students’ loan issue and if it is possible such a gesture should be converted to grant, in view of the unemployment challenge facing the country,where a graduate spends several years after graduation looking for a job.
Unless the Federal Government is guaranteeing to revitalise the economy to the extent that there can be ready employment after graduation, which we know won’t be an easy task for now. With this, parents, students and the entire country expect nothing less than the best on the part of the academic staff and other allied unions on campus.
In short, absolute industrial peace and harmony guaranteed by ASUU won’t be too much of a price. At least let students and parents alike breathe. Let what universities were known for, which is a citadel of knowledge,teaching and learning return. Nigeria and Nigerians will be happy for it.
We wish and pray that the old academic status of Nigerian degrees be regained. We recall with nostalgia when masters degrees in India and other Asian countries were regarded as first degrees in Nigeria, today the reverse is the case. No thanks to incessant strikes in the countries universities that lowered the value of our certificates and products.
But we are still optimistic that now that the wrongs are beginning to be made right, there is nothing stopping us from assuming our proper place among the comity of nations globally.
Outside other sundry demands by ASUU such as full autonomy for our Universities, Academic Earned Allowance and of course more funding for the universities, we expect the amiable Government of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to also address these grievances. Rome, it is said, was not built in a day. A journey of one million miles starts with a step, so the Ahmed Bola Tinubu led Government has started well, barely six months it has been in office. It surely deserves the support of all.
If other past administrations in the country had started the race, obviously the country wouldn’t be where it is today. At least the struggle for the implementation of the FG/ASUU agreement of 2009 will be laid to rest and the parties involved will equally rest. That is what it should be and as the saying goes that what is done well, is called ‘fine.’
We expect more of that, we have gathered also that the Port Harcourt Refinery is ready and is being test run right now for maximum productivity. What else can we say, in as much as we may want to be modest in our assessment of the President Ahmed Bola Tinubu administration, we say so far, so good.
Let cost of living normalise, let inflation reduce, let the value and purchasing power of the Naira regain its proper position. These and more are the daily prayer of every well meaning Nigerian. The ‘Japa’ syndrome must cease and be halted. Nigeria as a great nation should begin to harness its full potential. The abundant human and material resources bestowed on Nigeria should begin to count.
Who has taken sugar and vomited it? Nobody! Nigeria cannot be an exception. Now that the current federal government has discovered and regained its rhythm, let it be sustained and posterity will be kind to us and why not? Everything humanly possible should be done to let us remain in the land of Canaan, now that we have left Egypt.
The State and Local Government should also stand up and play their complementary role effectively to the Federal Government as second and third tiers of Government. For it is often said that when people urinate together, the urine produces enough foam. That should be the target of Nigeria.
There is nothing stopping us from being great again, as the original giant of Africa. We must run away from the toga of being referred to as the poverty capital of the world. Nigeria has no business with poverty if we put our arse together and do what is required of us. The leadership should assume their proper place as drivers of our socio-economic and political process and watch whether the followership won’t fall in place. This is a natural phenomenon and cannot be altered by us. Time they say waits for no one and the earlier we start, the better for us as a nation.
It is on this note that we are once again thumping up for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for ordering the removal of the ASUU from IPPIS. It is a decision well conceived and taken. We appeal and more strongly too that other aspects of the contentious 2009 agreement between ASUU and the Federal Government be revisited.
