ASUU threatens to resume suspended strike over MOA breach
Barth Ndubuwah, Port Harcourt
… Chides FG on failure
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) branch has threatened to resume the 2020 suspended strike due to what it described as the Federal Government’s failure to set up an inter-ministerial Committee to review the draft of the renegotiated 2009 FG/ASUU agreement to enable parties conclude the renegotiation process that started since 2017.
The ASUU’s position was made known on Tuesday by the UNIPORT Branch Chairman of the union, Comrade Uzoma Chima while briefing the press shortly after a special congress of the union at ASUU Secretariat, UNIPORT.
The chairman said the attitude of the Federal Government and its agents towards the ASUU issue has portrayed the Government as insincere and unreliable, hence the decision to resume the suspended strike.
He lamented that the refusal of the FG to replace the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for no justifiable reason has spelt doom to some of their members,whose names were either omitted or outrightly removed from the payroll system.
The implication, he said is that lecturers can no longer fullfil their basic financial obligations such as paying their children’s school fees, rent, among others, because of poor remuneration.
“The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System which was forced on the Federal universities about two years ago could be best described as a tool to destabilise our universities and inflict additional misery and pain on our members.
“Our union rejected IPPIS on the ground that it is not robust and flexible enough to capture and accommodate the peculiarities of a university system. Today we have been exonerated as the irregularities and inefficiency that characterize the payment system appear irredeemable,” Comrade Chima said.
Other thorny issues, the ASUU Chairman said include amendment of the NUC Act to check indiscriminate establishment of new universities by State governors when the existing public universities have been poorly funded. Poor condition of service and University autonomy the chairman said remain other unresolved issues contained in the unconcluded renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
In view of the foregoing, ASUU came to the conclusion that the FG has failed or refused to address the issues raised in the 2020 Memorandum Of Action (MOA) that led to the suspension of the last strike, hence the decision to embark on another showdown with the federal government.
“It is now apparent that Government has failed to satisfactorily address the issues raised in the 2020 Memorandum Of Action that led to the suspension of the last strike that our union embarked upon.
“This is in total and outright disregard of concerted efforts made by different stakeholders, including Student Union Bodies, Civil Society Organisations, the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, religious and opinion leaders and other patriotic Nigerians to persuade Government to address all outstanding issues in the 2020 MOA.
“We are tired of empty promises by the government and are ready to resume the suspended strike,” the ASUU Chairman said.
