THE NATION THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
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NEWS Lecturers rule out arbitration From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano
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HE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday made a sweeping remark on the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP). It passed a vote of no confidence on the panel’s ability to mediate in the current impasse between ASUU and the Federal Government. It ruled out any possibility of seeking legal resolution to the industrial dispute over the non implementation of the agreement signed in 2009 by ASUU representatives and officials of the Federal Government. ASUU had served a notice to embark on an indefinite strike if the Federal Government failed to implement the 2009 agreement after the expiration of the on-going one-week warning strike. In an interview with The Nation, the Chairman of ASUU in Kano Zone, Dr. Abdullahi Baffa alleged that the Federal Government was not favorably disposed to the development of varsity education in the country. Baffa said the union would embark on an indefinite strike if the Federal Government failed to commence, what he called “full and sincere implementation of the agreement signed in 2009.” He went on: “We have lost confidence in the Industrial Arbitration Panel, because members of the panel are more Catholic than the Pope. They are more government than the government itself. “We have discountenanced any legal resolution of the industrial dispute, and we are insisting on the full and sincere implementation of the agreement the Federal Government freely entered into with ASUU in 2009.”
‘We are not at war with VC’ THE Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja chapter, Dr Clement Chup, yesterday said the union is concerned about the rehabilitation of existing facilities on the campus. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gwagwalada, Chup said the position of the union had been misconstrued to mean an opposition against the school authority’s activities. The union, in a statement, raised alarm over what it described as “decaying nature of infrastructure in the university following insensitivity of the university management”. The Vice -Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Adelabu, had responded at a news conference that the university management was not only rehabilitating but also putting up new structures on the campus.
Students decry strike STUDENTS of the University of Agriculture, Benue and Benue State University (BSU) have decried the ongoing warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying it was not in their interest. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the three-day-old strike had paralysed academic and economic activities on the two campuses. A cross section of students from the two institutions told NAN in Makurdi yesterday that the industrial action had a lot of negative effects on them. Some students of the University of Agriculture said the strike had distrupted their examination, scheduled to commence on Sept. 26. Mr Williams Tyosaa, a 300 level student of Chemistry, said the strike had resulted in a major setback for them, noting that the semester had been pushed forward, while the academic calendar had been distorted.
•Minister of Labour and Productivity Emeka Wogu (left), member, Senate Committee on Labour and Productivity,Senator Dahiru Kuta and Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Senator Oluremi Tinubu during the inauguration of the committee at the National Assembly, Abuja... yesterday. PHOTO ABAYOMI FAYESE
DAY FOUR OF ASUU WARNING STRIKE
Senate, Reps intervene in face-off
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HE House of Representatives has requested the Federal Government to respect the 2009 agreement it entered with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as a matter of urgency. Reps also at plenary yesterday decried the infraction of the Constitution by the Federal Government in establishing nine universities without a legal backing from National Assembly. The lawmakers posited that the industrial action by the university lecturers would only impact negatively on the education sector in the country. This resolution in respect of the ASUU strike was sequel to a motion by Farouk Lawan, Chairman, House Committee on Education. Lawan moved the motion under matters of urgent national importance. He said: “Strike has become so common and constant that lasting solution has to be found to these recurring strikes.” He regreted that the Federal Government has not found it necessary to implement the 2009 agreement which borders on funding with private sector participation. “These incessant strikes have dire consequences for our students as they are forced to spend extra years in school. Standard is also being eroded and this has made it difficult for many of our graduates to compete on a global level.” The motion was unanimously favoured with a voice vote when Speaker Tambuwal put it to vote. On the issue of the nine universities established last year by the Federal Government without enabling legislation, the lawmakers agreed that though the necessity of establishing more tertiary institutions was acknowledged, it would be unconstitutional to appropriate money for illegal institutions. Faleke Abiodun, who moved the motion, drew the
From John Ofikhenua, Abuja
•‘Govt is operating new varsities illegally’
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‘Govt’ll review agreement next year’ From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja
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DUCATION Minister Prof. Ruqqayat Rufa’i yesterday spoke of a plan by the Federal Government to review its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) next year. The planned review of the agreement signed by both parties in 1999, but yet to be implemented, came on the heels of the ongoing warning strike called by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of ASUU. The one-week strike, which began on Monday, had crippled academic activities in federal and state varsities. Expressing her disappointment over the strike , Prof Rufa’i said despite government’s promise to improve on the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement, the academic body still went ahead with the seven-day strike. In a chat with The Nation, the minister called on parents and the students to plead with ASUU to call off the strike , hoping that normalcy will soon return to public varsities. She explained that the government was also mindful of the situation and that it would continue to play its role. Her words: “We agreed on two months with ASUU on how to move the 2009 agreement forward. Within those two months, there will be an appreciable improvement in terms of the critical areas that we agreed on. As a promise to ASUU, there will be improvement within two months. “We are expecting that at any time they can call off the strike. ASUU agreed with us that was why they signed the two months agreement. Since ASUU has that confidence in us, they should allow things to work. “Parents should be able to plead with ASUU that government is working, government is meeting their demands and next year we are going to review in terms of our agreement with them. “But what we have agreed two years ago, the government will be seen to be actualising. So, where ever we have not been fulfilling, we have to do that in the next two months. “Parents and the students should plead with ASUU to go back to work. And government is actually committed to its own responsibilities. It is not that government do not care about what is happening at the universities.” From Victor Oluwasegun, Dele Anofi, (Abuja) , Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja
attention of the House to the admission of students to the schools since September 15, a development which he described as illegal. He said the approval of the schools by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) provided no regulations for their internal and external activities. “It is worrisome that the establishment of these universities without presenting
their enabling Acts to the National Assembly is an infraction of Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution and therefore the process of establishment remain inchoate”. Faleke noted that “the financial implication of establishing and sustaining these universities that has never been previewed by the National Assembly as required by Section 81 of the 1999 Constitution equally calls for concern.” Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila said the era of military fiat is over. “We cannot establish a uni-
NLC justifies strike
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versity by fiat or magic wand, every single one of them must be established by an Act of Parliament, if not they are non-existent. This is because we cannot appropriate money to an institution that is not in existence.” Farouk Lawan, Chairman House Committee on Education noted that with the inability of the existing schools to accommodate about 300,000 from over 1.5 million candidates that sit for University Matriculation Examination (UME), the nation could do with more schools. “However, the legal instrument should be presented”, he said. It was overwhelmingly agreed that the FEC should formalise the establishment of the universities by presenting Bills for their establishment to the National Assembly. The Senate yesterday expressed worry over the ongoing strike by ASUU. Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, told reporters in Abuja that the concern of the Senate stemmed from the negative effect of the strike on the education sector. Abaribe said:“We are no doubt concerned about the unfortunate strike. We cannot shy away from what is happening but we are working through the Senate Committee on Education to ensure that the issues at stake are resolved in the best interest of the country.”
RESIDENT of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Abdulwaheed Omar yesterday justified the on-going strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Omar, who spoke in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), said ASUU had no other choice since the government refused to honour the agreement it entered into with it. According to him, the strike is a testimony to the fact that the Federal Government cannot be trusted with agreements. The labour chief expressed the support of the NLC for the strike, adding that any government has a duty to respect agreements, lamenting that in Nigeria, governments breach the agreement they freely reached with Labour with impunity. He, however, noted that agreements are not worth entering into if they are meant to be breached. Omar said: “I must use this opportunity to express the congress’ total support for the ASUU over its strike. Again, it is a testimony that in most cases, you cannot even trust government. You go into dialogue, you signed agreement and then the government continues to breach agreements that they have signed. “I don’t even know where we are heading for. Government is expected to be the first institution to respect agreements that are reached and signed. But where agreements are reached and breached with impunity it will not take us anywhere. We really support the action taken by ASUU because they are really compelled to do so because if agreements are breached at will, it means they were worthless entering into in the first place.”