ASUU decries FG’s failure to implement demands twenty months after
By Barth Ndubuwah, Port Harcourt
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has cried out that after 20 months of the suspension of their last strike that lasted for about 8 months, the Federal Government has not addressed any of their grievances that led to the strike.
The Chairman of ASUU, University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) Chapter,Comrd Darlington Chima Uzoma disclosed this Tuesday in a press briefing shortly after a Special Congress of the Union, comprising Parents, students and other stakeholders at the University campus, Choba, Rivers State.
According to him, the FG only paid lip service to the contentious issues that triggered off the last ASUU strike.
“It is sad to note that over twenty months after the suspension of the last strike,the Federal Government has only paid lip-service towards addressing those core issues that led to the strike ab initio and others that emanated from the strike,” the Chairman said.
He itemised the grievances to include, funding for the revitalisation of public universities,based on FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of 2012, 2013 and Memorandum of Action(MOA) of 2017, replacement of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with University Transparent and Accountability Solution (UTAS), payment of promotion arrears to promoted professors. Others, he said, include, payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) and amendment of the National Universities Commission (NUC) Act to check proliferation of public universities, without adequate funding for the existing ones, among others.
Comrd Uzoma said the situation is more worrisome that attempts by the National leadership of ASUU to have an audience with the President to find solutions to these pending issues have yielded no result.
The Chairman however said that as intellectuals, they will never be tired of agitating for the government’s improved commitment to sustaining quality education, knowing the fact that quality education is indispensable for the development of the economy.
ASUU decried the paltry 7 percent budgetary allocation to education in 2024, as against the UNESCO benchmark of 20 percent, when the ruling class are busy sending their children abroad to enjoy quality education.
The ASUU chairman also pointed out that salaries of lecturers have not been reviewed in the last 15 years, despite the galloping inflation and untold hardship inflicted on Nigerians by successive governments.
He said the essence of the Special Congress was to inform the stakeholders that the federal government has neglected all the grievances that led to their last strike. This, he said, may result in another round of industrial disharmony in our public universities and the Federal Government should be held responsible if that happens.
Comrd Uzoma said ASUU interprets this as a deliberate attempt by the Federal Government to take university education out of the reach of the children from poor backgrounds.
“There seems to be a deliberate attempt by the ruling class to take university education out of the reach of the children of the common man by decimating the public universities to favour private universities of which they control ownership and where the common man cannot afford the exorbitant fees,” ASUU alleged.
Highlight of the Congress was a protest rally by ASUU members to register their dismay at the attitude of the Federal Government towards education.
