Tag: Asuu strike

COMPENSATION: Minister of Education advises university students to sue ASUU over six-month strike

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has called on the affected students of the six-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to “take ASUU to court” and claim damages incurred over the strike period.

Adamu stated this at the 47th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

He noted that ASUU has to compensate students for the time wasted during the six-month strike.

The Minister stressed that the damages students suffered following the six months of no academic activities were not caused by the Federal Government.

According to him, the government will not concede to the union’s demand to pay lecturers their emoluments for the six months of no academic activities.

He asserted that the federal government bears no liability to compensate millions of students grounded for six months over lost time.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that ASUU has been on strike since February 14 this year, while non-teaching staff unions have also embarked on industrial action over a month ago.

Though the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, had met with the leadership of SSANU, NAAT, and NASU, nothing concrete came out of the meetings.

Speaking on the situation earlier, the National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, expressed disgust with the continued closure of the universities.

He said: “We cannot continue to waste the time of our children. They are staying much at home than in school now. It is unfortunate that we are yet to get over the issue of the closure of our higher institutions incessantly. That is a minus for the system. How do we expect foreigners to respect our certificates?

“Incidentally, it is not everybody that can afford to send their children abroad to study. We must make our education sector work and put an end to this rot. We plead with the government and the university workers to find a mid-course and resolve this issue and let academic activities resume in these institutions.”

August 18, 2022
“Don’t vote for a politician who cannot take care of your interests”- ASUU President advises students

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has advised Nigerian students not to vote for politicians who have their children studying in institutions outside the country.

Speaking on a Twitter Space Webinar, organised by Premium Times and tagged, ‘ASUU strike, Revitalisation Fund and the Way Forward’, Osodeke said “Anybody you believe cannot take care of your interests, whose children are busy studying abroad, who are living abroad, don’t vote for them, I repeat, you don’t need to vote for them because you don’t vote for people who will take your life.”

He urged students not to vote for politicians who would not represent their interests.

Osodeke was responding to a question from a famous ENDSARS activist, Rinu Oduala, on what Nigerian students could do amid the lingering ASUU strike.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, with hopes of resumption dashed for Nigerian students many times as the lecturers have refused to resume over what they described as the failure of the Federal Government to honour the agreement it had with them.

It would be recalled that Tuesday ASUU’s meeting with the FG ended in deadlock.

According to a source, the Federal Government’s team met with the representatives of ASUU at the headquarters of the National Universities Commission.

Speaking further, the union’s President bemoaned comments by the Ebonyi State Governor and Chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum, David Umahi, that university education was not for everybody.

This was as Umahi stressed that it was unreasonable for the Federal Government, led by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to borrow over N1trn to meet the demands of ASUU.

Speaking further on Twitter, Osodeke said, “Education is about life. A governor was saying education is not for everybody and then we saw his son graduating outside (abroad) with governors.

“I will repeat it, the Nigerian students should hold their PVC. Anybody who will not look at their interests, who, in his campaign, will not show that he’s going to improve the Nigerian educational system, they should vote them out.”

August 18, 2022
ASUU STRIKE: FG to meet with ASUU executives today, as strike enters 183 days

As the ongoing strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, enters 183 days today, the Federal Government would meet with the union executives on Tuesday, August 16, to discuss its decision.

This was disclosed by the national president of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, monitored by TheNewsGuru.com on Monday.

Recall that since the end of the renegotiation meeting led by Prof. Nimi Briggs, the government had not made effort to discuss its decision with the union’s executives.

Likewise, after the submission of the ASUU report by the Briggs committee, the president gave the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu a two-week ultimatum to address the demands of ASUU.

However, the two weeks elapsed three weeks ago, yet, nothing was done to forestall an extension of the strike by one month strike, which started on August 1, 2022.

As such, Osodeke said the union was willing to call off the strike if the Federal Government agreed to its demands at today’s meeting.

He said, “If we go into that meeting tomorrow and the government says, what you have bargained for, we are willing to sign, the strike will be called off.”

In an earlier interview, Osodeke condemned the fraudulent activities which the government used the university unions rejected the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system to commit.

He said, ‘’We have been shouting all along that IPPIS is a fraud, we have told them that for 16 years they siphoned our money with IPPIS, and they punished our members because of it. Now, they know, some foreign bodies forced it on the people.’’

ASUU commenced its ongoing strike on February 14, 2022, after the Federal Government refused to meet some of its demands including, the release of revitalization funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the UTAS payment platform for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers.

August 16, 2022
ASUU STRIKE: “We are making sacrifices for the coming generation to have access to quality education”- Prof Osodeke

As lecturers and students in Nigerian Universities continue to stay at home, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has said the union would not relent in making sacrifices for the coming generation to have basic amenities in school and access to quality education.

He stressed that the current strike by the members of the union will linger on till Federal Government is ready to accede to their terms.

Osodeke spoke at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State during ASUU congress within the campus.

In his words: “For anything to develop some people will make sacrifices, you will agree with me that Nigerian universities are on the verge of collapsing. This struggle is not just for them but the future generations.”

He pointed out students are moving out of the country in large number because of the on-ongoing strike.

According to him: “Large number of lecturers have moved out not because they hate this country but because of the way they are being treated. There’s no country in the world that their academics will go on strike and you think the best weapon to use is to seize their salary.

“When we were on the strike lecturers in UK went on strike it didn’t take two day for them to resolve it, Ghanaian lecturers went on strike and they resolved it but here they felt nonchalant and you know why?because they have no commitments, their children are not here. We will go as far as we can on this strike to the point they are ready to agree to our demands.”

TheNewsGuru.com reports that between 1999 and the end of 2021, ASUU went on strike for 60 months and seven days.

As for 2022, it’s more than five months and still counting, unfortunately.

ASUU affiliates namely Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and National Association of Academic Technologies (NAAT) have also joined the strike; thereby turning Nigeria’s public universities into ghost towns.

The belated N2 million monthly salary and other allowances recommended for professors by the renegotiating committee led by Prof Nimi Briggs do not seem to impress ASUU and its affiliates.

It would be recalled that When ASUU Chairman of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Dr Gbolahan Bolarin, announced that the National Executive Council of ASUU would be meeting on August 1, 2022, he gave no assurances that the strike would be called off.

ASUU Strike history

The earliest that anyone can remember of Nigerian university lecturers going on strike was in the early 1970s when military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, ordered the dons to vacate their official residences if they wouldn’t go back to work.

The beef between the Federal Government and ASUU has been a seesaw of sorts, with series of Memoranda of Agreement and Understanding usually ending up being observed in the breach.

A Memorandum of Agreement was signed so that between 2009 and 2011 each federal university would get N1.5trn annually, while state-owned universities will receive N3.6m annually per student.

A Memorandum of Understanding agreed in 2013 dwelled on pretty much the same issues of condition of service, funding, university autonomy, academic freedom and administrative matters.

The details were a separate salary structure, called Consolidation University Academic Salary Structure II, a reiteration of the N1.5trn payable to federal universities and the N3.6m payable to state universities for each student they admit.

Others are autonomy of universities academic freedom and stringent criteria for would-be members of university councils, to include having a regular, and not an honorary, university degree, proven integrity, and being knowledgeable and familiar with affairs and traditions of the university system.

The other agreed issues were an Implementation Monitoring Committee for the Agreement to enable the government to meet its obligations to ensure swift amendment to relevant enabling laws and the release of the funds.

The Memorandum of Understanding of 2017 was on the funding of government universities, payment of Earned Academic Allowances of lecturers, government accepting responsibility for staff schools, payment of the pension of professors and salary shortfalls.

The 2019 Memorandum of Agreement was on the full implementation of the 2013 Agreement, payment of salary shortfalls of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, part-payment of arrears of EAA up to 2018, and mainstreaming of EAA into annual budgets, beginning from 2019.

Other agreements were the strengthening of the Consultative Committee on state-owned universities, government approval for Nigeria Universities Pension Management Company, appointment of visitation committees to universities, documentation of guidelines on procedures and roles of partners in the process of renegotiating FGN-ASUU Agreement of 2009.

The Federal Government, which serially fails to fulfil its part of the agreements soon after ASUU agrees to return to the classroom, appears to lack the wherewithal to consummate the agreements, or is just playing games with the union.

One sore area of disagreement is the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System introduced by the Federal Government to pay the salaries of all government officials, and the alternative University Transparency and Accountability Solution offered by ASUU.

IPPIS enrolls government workers for the payment of salaries from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation. Its justification is that it ensures high integrity and can prevent the enlistment of ghost workers.

UTAS is ASUU’s argument that university lecturers’ jobs are peculiar and unlike other government employment. It captures employment, retirement, sabbatical leave, adjunct and part-time engagements and other issues unique to the university system.

But the Federal Government, through the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Inuwa, claimed that UTAS failed its integrity test and could not be adopted to pay salaries.

However, ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, countered that because NITDA confirmed that UTAS at least scored 85 per cent on the User Acceptance Test conducted by NITDA, it has, therefore, passed the integrity test.

But if the Federal Government would like to invoke that law, it must be sure that it could not be held culpable for causing the strike. It’s a case of he who must come to equity must come with clean hands.

ASUU’s grouse is that the Federal Government serially reneges on agreements it freely entered into to increase funding to the universities whose student population keeps ballooning as Nigeria’s population increases.

The government needs to come clean and tell the dons what it can, or cannot, do, and get ASUU and other educational unions on a 10-year moratorium promising that there will be no strikes, while the government declares a Marshall Plan to rehabilitate the tertiary educational system.

The state governments should negotiate with the unions and not be compelled to adopt agreements that they did not participate in making. Kudos to the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, for engaging stakeholders on the participation of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology’s Chapter of ASUU in the ongoing strike.

August 12, 2022
Buhari gov’t has no citizens’ interest at heart – ASUU replies Keyamo

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says the government of President Muhammadu Buhari does not have the interest of common citizens at heart.

The union stated this on Sunday even as it dared the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN), to list some of the actions taken by the regime to end the ongoing strike by the union.

Recall that Keyamo, the activist-turned-politician, during an interview on Channels TV had said the Federal Government had done all within its power to end the strike by ASUU.

Keyamo had also appealed to parents and guardians to “beg” the union while adding that the government had no plans to borrow to meet their demands.

ASUU declared a strike on Monday, February 14, 2022, at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Also Read

We are shocked ASUU extended strike; Presidency

The union blamed the government for failing to meet some of the lingering demands that it had presented before the suspension of its 2020 industrial action.

Some of the demands include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, release of earned academic allowances for the staff of universities, release of white paper of the visitation panel to universities, deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of the salaries and allowances of lecturers, renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN agreement; stoppage to the proliferation of universities by lawmakers and other government officials.

Replying to Keyamo’s claims, the National President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview in Abuja, expressed disappointment at the claims by the minister.

“When I listened to him yesterday, I felt very disappointed. We are in a country where someone who has risen in the legal profession can come out to completely misinform the public. It is so sad and I feel so pained.

“We are challenging him to mention one of the things the government has done on all the issues that led to the strike. How much has been released for the revitalisation fund for universities? How much has been released for the payment of the earned academic allowances? Has the visitation panel report been released? This is a demand that does not even have to do with money,” he said.

He added, “Have they signed the agreement that was negotiated between their team and ASUU? On the issue of IPPIS and UTAS, have the results been made available? These are the questions Nigerians have to ask them. The demands that don’t have to do with money, have they met those demands?

“I am so disappointed. This is someone who was on the street fighting for the poor Nigerians until he joined politics. This same man has turned around to fight the
Nigerian people. We challenge him to tell the Nigerian people what the government has done concerning the seven demands that were listed. It is so sad, and that is why Nigeria is where it is today.

“These people do not have the interest of Nigerians at heart. Nigeria is battling all manner of things. Insecurity, education is on lockdown. They have not released one kobo, I’m saying this with all due respect. The government has not released one kobo to any university since the strike started, but you are giving N1.14 billion worth of vehicles to government officials in the Niger Republic.

“You know why they don’t believe in Nigerians. If their children were to be in our schools, they would have done something”.

August 7, 2022
ASUU STRIKE: Proposed agreement will not be binding on state universities -FG insists

The Federal Ministry of Education has insisted that its proposed agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, will not be binding on state universities.

Following this development, the industrial dispute between the Federal Government and ASUU may worsen, as Universities would remain shut.

“The state government will handle their own institutions” -Federal Ministry of Education

The spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong , in an interview on Wednesday, explained that the Federal Government could not dictate to states on education as it is on the concurrent legislative list.

A committee led by the Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Lokoja, Prof. Nimi Briggs, had reportedly recommended a 180 per cent pay rise for lecturers, but the government was said to have favoured a 100 per cent increase.

It was gathered that the ministries of finance, education, labour and employment, Budget Office of the Federation, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission were still working out the final details of the proposal.

The ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, insisted that any agreement reached with the Federal Government would be binding on the states, thus opening another battlefront between the union and the government.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that members of ASUU, including federal and state universities, embarked on a strike on February 14, 2022.

Following the inability of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige to resolve the strike, the President, major General Muhammdu Buhari (retd.), two weeks ago directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to take over the negotiation with the ASUU leadership.

To compel a quick resolution of the crisis, the Nigeria Labour Congress held nationwide protests on July 26 and 27 in solidarity with the union.

However, ASUU on Monday extended the industrial action by another four weeks.

Responding to a question on whether the proposed agreement would be binding on all universities in the country, Goong said, “The agreement between the Federal Government is not binding on state universities. Education is on the concurrent list, the Federal Government cannot tell states what to do when it comes to the management of their institutions.

“Any agreement made with ASUU is only binding on the institutions owned by the Federal Government. The state government will handle their own institutions.”

“Issue of salary negotiation is exclusive to the union” -ASUU president

But reacting to the government’s position in an interview on Wednesday, the ASUU president stated that the university system is a single entity, arguing further that there was no disparity between state and federal universities.

Osodeke said, “I don’t know who you spoke to but that person doesn’t know what he is saying. I can tell you that the renegotiation team is made up of pro-chancellors of state and federal universities. So, how can anyone say the agreement won’t be binding on state universities? The person doesn’t know what he is saying.”

The ASUU leader contended that the few institutions that did not join in the strike were not their members.

He also warned that Nigeria had just one university system and as such the issue of salary is personal to the union.

Osodeke stated, ‘‘Whenever ASUU is on strike, it is not about state ASUU or federal ASUU. We have one ASUU representing all universities in the country; those schools that are not participating in the strike are not our members.

‘‘The issue of salary should be left to the union to decide because when there was minimum wage adjustment, both federal and state schools were a part of it; even TETFund, it funds both state and federal institutions. Do we have a federal NUC or state NUC?

‘’The issue of salary negotiation is exclusive to the union. If a state can increase it, good; but we have one university system in Nigeria, and the state cannot even pay lesser than what the Federal Government is paying.’’

“We are not part of the ongoing negotiation between the FG and ASUU”- Ekiti govt

Commenting on the controversy, Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Akin Omole, said on Wednesday that the state was not part of the ongoing negotiation between the FG and ASUU, hence, any agreement reached could not be binding on it as far as ASUU members in Ekiti State University were concerned.

Omole said, “If Ekiti State must have any dialogue at all, it can only be with the ASUU in EKSU. The ASUU negotiation with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Federal Ministry of Education is not done with the concurrence of Ekiti State Government. It is a national issue and it is the FG that is involved.

“With the principle of federalism, it is the employer and the employee that determine the pay. The salaries of workers in all states of the federation are not the same, then the issue is that what happens in another state cannot be binding on them.”

Likewise, the Benue State Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Michael Inalegwu said the state government was not involved in the ongoing negotiation between the FG and the university lecturers.

While acknowledging the lean resources of the state, the commissioner said that any agreement reached between the FG and ASUU may have serious consequences on the resources of the state but expressed optimism that both the state government and the state chapter of ASUU would reach a compromise.

He said, “The Benue State Government is not involved in the negotiation; whatever agreement they reached may not be binding on us because they are different structures. But you should know that our state government places its lecturers in the state university at par with their counterparts at the federal level.”

“We are not backbenchers in education matters” -Anambra govt

But the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, said the state wass involved in the negotiations and would implement the outcomes.

She said, “We have a governor who takes education seriously and he is also a unionist. We are involved in the negotiations of the Federal Government with ASUU and anything they arrive at will be duly effected in Anambra.

“Whatever negotiations other states are into, Anambra is also in it; we are not backbenchers in matters that have to do with education and especially when it has to do with progressivism.”

According to the Special Adviser to the Osun state Governor on Education, Jamiu Olawumi, said if the lecturers’ salary was reviewed, states would expect the FG to assist them in meeting the demand.

Reaction of Gombe, Ogun states and NANS

On his part, the Gombe State Commissioner for Higher Education, Meshack Lauco, said out of the eight demands highlighted by ASUU, the state government had defaulted only in the earned allowances, adding that they had reached an agreement.

The Ogun State Government explained that it would wait for ASUU to present the agreement reached with the FG before it would commit itself to any arrangement.

The state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu said the government would need to know the nature of the arrangement first.

He said “The question is loaded, I cannot answer yes or no. I should know what I want to agree to. Education is on the concurrent legislative list. If it is acceptable, we can now see what to do.

“When they come back and see what we can do; immediately, we will always try to make sure we do something so that our institution will not be inferior to others. So, let’s see what they agreed on and see how to work it out.”

Meanwhile the National Association of Nigerian Students on Wednesday called for the resignation of the minister of education.

NANS in a statement in Abuja, said, “Since he became minister, ASUU has gone on strike for almost 18 months cumulatively and the entire educational structure of our tertiary education system is in total shambles under his watch.’’

August 4, 2022
ASUU strike: V-C explains status of unionism in AAU, Ekpoma

Prof. Sonnie Adagbonyin, Vice Chancellor (V-C) of the state-owned Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, says the government has not proscribed activities of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) in the institution.

Adagbonyin told newsmen on Wednesday in Ekpoma that government only suspended activities of staff unions on campus as they were inhibiting the smooth running of academic activities in the institution.

“In AAU, we must get it clear that government did not proscribe the unions. I need to emphasise that as there has to be a law that can take that out.

“And I don’t think that has happened in AAU. Rather, what happened in AAU is a decision taken by government to curtail the excess activities of the staff unions.

“What we have is a suspension of the activities of staff unions within the university. I need to state it clearly because in the past, certain persons in their attempt at propaganda, have taken the narrative beyond the frontiers of reality.

“We are happy that academic activities at AAU are in full swing and students are writing their examinations while lecturers are going about the supervision of students.

“Yet many others are engaged in the typical responsibility which academics are known for, which is research. As we speak, large number of staff have returned to work. And very many more will be joining us in the days ahead.

“I’m saying this because there is the propaganda in the air that even though AAU has resumed, that activities are not in full swing. That is not true.

“As you have also noticed, while examinations are ongoing, many faculties have concluded theirs, bringing to an end the 2020/2021 academic session.’’

According to the V-C, “by Aug. 7, we are commencing 2021/2022 academic session. And students are already coming to resume for the new academic session.

“Since we have had a head start, there won’t be any backlog of academic calendar. We have only one set of UMTE candidates which session will begin on Aug. 7’’.

Adagbonyin explained that many lecturers, who quickly realised they had a duty to fulfill to their students, returned to work and to salvage the university system.

“Many lecturers have come to realise that grandstanding and holding on to values that are recklessly irrelevant at this point would not take them too far.

“So, you can see that in AAU, after so many months, is in full swing of academic activities and to emphasise that resumption is total.’’

The V-C noted that the students had to be commended for the decision by government to announce resumption, saying their resilience to go back to school to conclude their studies is commendable.

“We also need to praise the resilience of our students whose actions showed their readiness to want to continue with their studies and the reason we are back to school.

“That resilience paid off and now the school is in full swing and the lecturers have also realized their commitment towards their academic development and growth,’’ he said.

August 3, 2022
Havard University: Gbajabiamila tenders apology to Nigerians

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday apologized to the entirety of Nigerians over his recent post concerning taking a course at Havard University.

Recall that Gbajabiamila recently posted a picture of himself attending a leadership course at Harvard University in the United States of America.

The speaker has explained that the intention was not to cause disaffection by Nigerians amid the ongoing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions in Nigeria’s ivory tower.

The Surulere-bred politician came under fire for celebrating his “return to class” amid the ongoing ASUU strike.

Several stakeholders and activists described the Speaker’s post as insensitive.

Findings show that during Gbajabiamila’s reign as Speaker of the House of Reps, Nigeria witnessed its longest ASUU strike in 2020.

However, in a series of tweets via his Twitter handle on Wednesday night, Gbajabiamila said, “Yesterday, I posted a picture of myself at the @Harvard @Kennedy_School, undergoing a course. That post was not sensitive to the present feelings of fellow citizens, especially parents and students who are presently bearing the brunt of the ongoing closure of public universities owing to the unresolved issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“I apologize for the post at this time, and I hope you will understand that it was not my intention to cause disaffection. As Speaker of @HouseNGR, I have made multiple interventions within the powers of the legislature to avert the ongoing strike. I had direct engagements with ASUU, and relevant government agencies.

“We all await the outcome of the two-week ultimatum given for the conclusion of negotiations with ASUU.”

July 27, 2022
We will soon embark on a nationwide strike – NLC president, Wabba

Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) president, Ayuba Wabba, has said that the workers’ union will embark on a three-day nationwide strike if the Federal Government doesn’t yield to the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)

NLC’s scheduled warning protest for Tuesday and Wednesday has already kick-started in Lagos and Abuja.

Wabba, who spoke in an interview with Channels TV stated that the workers’ union embarked on a two-day protest against the ongoing ASUU strike not just as a show of solidarity, but because the strike directly affected the NLC.

He said, “The two-day warning strike is to call for attention for the issues to be resolved promptly. The next level is a three-day national warning strike if nothing has happened after the protest, to show our grievances.

“We are not on a solidarity action, we are affected directly.”

Wabba noted that the ongoing protest was a democratic norm that was constitutional and supported by the international charters, and and added that it was not illegal to carry out such demonstrations on the streets.

He said, “These are democratic norms everywhere in the world. Even as an individual, you have the right to air your grievances.

“It is within the provision of our law. It is backed by the United Nations charter for human and peoples rights, African charter for human and peoples rights, and it is there in our constitution — sections 39 and 40.”

The Nigeria police had warned NLC not to embark on the protest unless it get clearance from the police or any authority to carry out protests.

In its reaction, the NLC president, posited that the court has given a pronouncement that citizens do not need permission from the police or any authority to carry out protests.

According to him, staging a peaceful protest and legal and within one’s fundamental human rights.

He said, “Even the court has pronounced that you don’t require any permission. It is legal and within your fundamental human rights to protest issues.

“When people say it’s illegal, I think people should remember that no condition is permanent. We have had some of our current politicians join the NLC to press for similar actions in the past.”

July 26, 2022
ASUU lambasts FG for ‘insulting’ members

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have accused the Federal Government of insulting them by the utterances of those in power.

TheNewsGuru recalls that the ongoing strike
had commenced on February 14 after the Federal Government failed to meet some of ASUU’s demands.

Some of those demands include the release of the Revitalisation Funds and Earned Allowances, Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

The fresh outbursts is indicative of a worsening situation about the ongoing strike action being embarked upon by the union.

The university lecturers accused the Federal Government of frustrating efforts to ensure standard education for Nigeria’s next generation.

They also expressed anger over comments made by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said, “truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home”.

Ngige had, in his own statement on Wednesday accused the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, of misinformation, claiming that there was no Collective Bargaining Agreement between FG and ASUU awaiting signing by the President.

While appearing as a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, Osodeke, lambasted Ngige for his “insulting” comments.

“What the Minister of Labour has done is a complete insult to the character of people like Professor Nimi Briggs, Senator Chris Adighije, Professor Olu Obafemi,” Osodeke

“The minister instead of looking for how to resolve the problem is busy abusing his colleagues, abusing even the Minister of Education,” he said.

Osodoke also accused the minister of spreading misinformation.

It is so sad that we have gotten to a stage where our children are lamenting at home and the Minister of Labour is busy churning out fake information and misinforming the public, trying to undermine the integrity of ASUU,” the professor added.

Reacting to Buhari’s comment, the ASUU president said, “I do not understand why Mr President said that ‘enough is enough’, when we are not the one delaying the students at home.

“The Federal Government had sent its team to negotiate with us and we have finished. Instead of coming back to us to tell us the outcome of the meeting, we are hearing this.

“If you set up a committee to negotiate on your behalf, and the committee has finished and they have brought the information to you to sign and then you said enough is enough, what does this mean?” he asked.

The Professor Nimi Briggs-led negotiation committee was set up by the Federal Government on June 7 to renegotiate the 2009 Agreement with ASUU and submit its report to the Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu in three months.

The Briggs-led committee is expected to review the draft proposed FGN/ASUU Agreement, liaise and consult with relevant stakeholders to finalise the position of the Federal Government on the issues in the draft proposed FGN/ASUU Renegotiated Agreement.

It is also to renegotiate in realistic and workable terms the 2009 Agreements with other University-Based Unions; negotiate and recommend any other issue the Committee deems relevant to reposition the NUC for global competitiveness; and submit proposed draft agreements within three months from the date of inauguration.

The committee is chaired by Brigs, Pro-Chancellor, Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi.

July 14, 2022