ASUU Urges Stakeholders to Prevail On FG to Fulfill Its Agreement

Dr Adebayo Akinsanya, the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijebu-Ode, Ogun, has urged stakeholders in the education sector to intervene in the current crisis.

Akinsanya appealed to the stakeholders to prevail on the Federal Government to implement the 2009 Agreement it had with the union to save Nigeria's education from imminent collapse.

He told newsmen in Ijebu-Ode yesterday that the Federal Government is not sensitive to the plight of the union.

According to him, government's insensitivity to the all important sector is killing the standard of education in the country.

"Government said it wants the nation's universities to be among the first 500 in the world and yet it refuses to fund the education sector.

"How can Nigeria universities achieve this noble idea without adequate funding and proper repositioning of the citadels of learning in this country?"

He said that the current strike is not about allowances for lecturers, but about government doing what is needful to save the education system from collapse.

Akinsanya said with the way things are, there are no signs that the strike will be called off soon.

"Where has ASUU gone wrong in demanding for funding of the universities, intervention to states universities, and autonomy of our universities system," Akinsanya said.

He said the union should not be blamed for the challenges facing the university system, but on government which failed to abide by the UNESCO budgetary allocation to education sector.

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ASUU strike: Suswam chairs Needs Committee

Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam




The Federal Government on Friday inaugurated the University Needs Implementation Committee headed by Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State.
The committee is to put inplace appropriate requirements for learning in all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, said during the inauguration of the committee in Abuja that the major needs of all federal universities were identified by an assessment committee earlier set up to "assess and prioritise the needs of universities."
According to him, the report submitted by the Needs Assessment Committee mandates the inaugurated committee "to interface with all agencies providing funding support to the universities with the aim of appropriately channelling support to identified priorities,"
The Federal Government had set up the NAC to revitalise the physical infrastructure in the universities, with the aim of enhancing the Internally Generated Revenue base of the universities.
But the non-implementation of the report has pitted the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union and other trade unions in the nation's universities against the government.
Anyim said the committee's terms of reference included,"Simulating private sector investment into the public auniversities, monitoring progress of the projects implementation and produce quarterly reports for submission to the Federal Government and, intervention in any other matter that may be necessary to achieve the purpose of the Needs assessment."

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FG, ASUU Meet, May Call Off Strike Next Week

IT seems an end to the prolonged strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may be called off as the body and the Federal Government have come to a reasonable agreement.

Rising from a three-hour closed-door meeting held at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Friday, both parties achieved reasonable success in the negotiation as all issues except two were agreed on.
The Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim was at the head of the FG team along with the Education and Labour Ministers while ASUU’s team was led by its President, Dr Nasir Isa Fagge.
Briefing journalists afterwards, the Chairman, University Needs Implementation Committee, Gabriel Suswam said, “we agreed on all major issues except the issues of funding of the Universities or rather intervention and then the allowance of the University Lecturers. We believe that by next week the other issues would be resolved. Then, ASUU would probably call off the strike.”
The Benue State Governor added that the SGF is meeting on the issue of earn allowance on Monday while his committee, which is dealing with the Needs assessment implementation, would be meeting on Thursday to assess all the infrastructural deficits in the Universities.
“We are involving all the agencies that fund the universities - the CBN and all others. As soon as the two issues are resolved, we believe that the strike would be called off.
“The issues of retirement age, setting up a pension administrator, setting up of budget monitoring unit, persuading companies to setup research centres, among others, have being agreed on,” Suswam said.
“We agreed that all the funding agencies would meet on Thursday and we chart a way forward,” he noted.
Although the Chairman of ASUU refused to speak to the press in an obvious show of dissatisfaction, a source within ASUU said they did not expect the Federal Government to bring all the cards on the table at once so they are still keeping their fingers crossed for next week when their demands would be exhaustively tackled. “For now, the strike continues indefinitely,” the source said.
Earlier, in a bid to put up appropriate conditions necessary for academics in all tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the Federal Government has inaugurated the Universities Needs Implementation Committee, with a mandate to prioritise requisite exigencies.
At the inauguration yesterday in Abuja, the SGF,Anyim Pius Anyim said the major needs of all Federal Universities where identified by an assessment committee earlier set up to assess and prioritise the needs of universities.”
He said the report submitted by the Needs assessment Committee mandates the inaugurated Committee to “interface with all agencies providing funding support to the universities with the aim of appropriately channeling support to identified priorities.”
“Simulate private sector investment into the public universities, monitor progress of the projects implementation and produce quarterly report for submission to the federal government and, intervention in any other matter that may be necessary to achieve the purpose of the Needs Assessment,” he added.
This mandate stemmed from the observations earlier carried out, which noted that various countries fund tertiary institutions through varying approaches, some through budgetary allocations, non-budgetary interventions or private sector donations.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government set up the Need Assessment Committee to revitalise the physical infrastructure in the universities, with the aim of enhancing the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base of the universities.

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