ASUU REJECTS N600 BILLION OFFERED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.....

ASUU rejects N600 BILLION offer
Varsity teachers remained adamant last night,
saying their strike would go on, despite the
government’s shifting of its position. The strike has
been on for four months.
More cash has been pledged for projects on the
campuses. Besides, the earned allowances due to
the teachers have been increased from the initial
N30 billion offer, which the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) rejected. The teachers are
insisting on the 2009 agreement, which they say
President Goodluck Jonathan was part of. Besides,
they say, they do not trust the government.
According to a circular by the Vice Chancellor of the
Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof.
Bolaji Aluko, to the staff of the school, quoted
yesterday by the news website, Sahara Reporters,
the government has pledged to spend N200 billion
on the universities in the 2014 budget and the same
amount annually for the next three to four years.
This is in addition to the N100 billion already made
available this year, but which ASUU has rejected.
The government has also increased to N40 billion,
as a first installment, funds for the payment of
earned allowances to the striking lecturers – an
improvement from the N30 billion previously
released.
On the earned allowances, Aluko said: “Government
will top it up with further releases once universities
are through with the disbursement of this new
figure of N40 million. So, Vice-Chancellors are urged
to expedite this disbursement within the shortest
possible time using guiding templates that have
been sent by the CVC,” the circular said.
Aluko said the latest development followed
meetings on September 19 and Oct 11 of
representatives of the Association of Vice-
Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, led by its
Chairman, Prof. Hamisu of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
University (ATBU) and ASUU representatives led by
its President, Dr.Nasir Fagge, with Vice-President
Namadi Sambo and Minister of Education Nyesome
Wike.
A source in the Ministry of Education last night also
confirmed that the meeting took place.
“But the government decided to leave the
announcement of the decision to the ASUU chiefs,”
the source said.
It was gathered that Sambo urged ASUU to call off
the strike, as he apologised for the “take-it-or-leave-
it” comments credited to Minister of Finance Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the beginning of the strike.
The Minister did not seem to have been involved in
either meeting, perhaps as the government’s way of
soothing the feelings of the university teachers.
Other points of agreement at the meetings include:
•Project Prioritisation: Universities will now be
allowed to determine their priorities and not be
“rail-roaded” into implementing a pre-determined
set of projects with respect to the NEEDS
assessment. Decisions are not to be centralized;
•TETFund Intervention: The government assured
the teachers that the operations of the TETFund will
not be impaired, and that the regular TETFund
intervention disbursement to universities will
continue, unaffected. So the NEEDS assessment
capital outlays are in addition to regular TETFund
intervention;
•Project Monitoring: A new Implementation
Monitoring Committee (IMC) for the NEEDS
Assessment intervention for universities has been
set up to take over from the Suswam Committee.
The new one is under the Federal Ministry of
Education and chaired by the Minister of Education.
In addition, to build confidence and ensure faithful
implementation and prevent any relapse as before,
the Vice President will meet quarterly with the
implementors to monitor progress.
.Blueprint: ASUU was mandated to submit a
blueprint for revitalising the universities to the Vice
President.
Prof. Aluko stated that a signed document will soon
be issued to itemise the full issues on which the
consensus was reached.
But ASUU last night was unimpressed with the new
offer. National Treasurer Dr. Ademola Aremu said
the offer failed to meet the teachers’ expectations.
He said the offer falls short of the agreement signed
with ASUU by the government.
Aremu insisted that ASUU would not end the strike
until the 2009 agreement is fully implemented by
injecting N500 billion into the universities yearly to
shore up the system’s quality.
Aremu, who spoke to our correspondent on the
telephone, said any offer below what is contained in
the signed agreement, would amount to unilateral
repudiation of an agreement the government
willingly signed in 2009.
According to the unionist, ASUU is not making any
new demand, but a mere implementation of an
agreement. He pointed out that the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) signed by both parties in
2009 stated that the government would commit
N1.5 trillion to the system in three years.
He said: “ Even if the Federal Government made
that promise, it would be a unilateral repudiation of
the 2009 agreement. By now, the government
should have injected N500 billion. That amounts to
N100 billion in 2012 and N400 billion in the current
year.
“As a matter of fact, any new commitment from the
Federal Government is belated. Implementation of
the agreement ought to have started before this
year. I don’t think there is any way we can trust this
government, going by its past behaviour on this
issue.
“The mandate from our principal as at the last time
we met was that we won’t end the strike until the
agreement is fully implemented.
“We do not need promises again. What we need now
is actual implementation. What if they do not
release the funds again after making the promise?
“It was this same Mr President that mid-wifed the
agreement in 2009 when he was the Vice President.
The MoU was in his custody. He studied the
agreement well before asking then President Umaru
Yar’Adua to sign it. We can’t trust this government.