ASUU: PRO-CHANCELLORS ORDER RE-OPENING OF UNIVERSITIES!

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Due to the ongoing ASUU Strike, the Committee of Pro-chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities, on Tuesday, unanimously ordered immediate re-opening of universities across the country.

The communiqué signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Kimse Okoko, was made available to newsmen late Tuesday in Abuja.

The communiqué was issued at the end of the committee meeting to discuss the protracted ASUU Strike and other issues affecting the Nigerian university system.

The communiqué stated that the decision to re-open the universities was unanimously agreed by all pro-chancellors in the overall interest of all concerned.

The pro-chancellors, in the communique, directed all vice chancellors to comply with the committee decision.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the decision of the pro-chancellors was predicated on the earlier referendum held by various chapters of ASUU that voted 60-40 in favour of suspension of the over four months old strike.

They expressed dismay that all efforts to resolve the crisis, including the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan, has failed.

The communiqué recognised “all effort by Federal Government to address the major issues involved in the strike action including the bold and the supportive intervention by Mr President.”

It also stated that the committee noted “with satisfaction the outcome of the referendum conducted in all branches of ASUU nationwide which voted 60-40 in favour of the suspension of the ongoing strike by ASUU.”

The pro-chancellors called for the understanding of ASUU and indeed all staff of the various universities in Nigeria.

This order is coming on the heels of polarisation that has already crept into the ASUU, following the meeting they had with President Goodluck Jonathan penultimate week.

Nigerians were amazed that the emergency National Executive Council meeting, held in Kaduna last weekend, came out with fresh conditions for suspension of strike after it was rumoured that a deal was struck with President Jonathan.

ASUU has been on strike since July 1 and the NEC meeting was to deliberate on the resolutions of various chapters of ASUU on whether the strike should be suspended or not based on the offers by the government.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the pro-chancellors were aggrieved that even when majority of the members of ASUU want the strike called off, few elements in the union have refused to yield to the popular desire of the members.

Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter of ASUU, over its continued participation in the ongoing strike action by the union’s national body, worsened on Tuesday as the two factions in the crisis openly traded insults.

The congress, called on Monday, saw a sharp division in the chapter with a faction favouring a pull-out from the strike action, giving a week ultimatum to open the institution.

The faction also promised undisclosed further actions if the ultimatum was not met, after it held a separate congress following the disruption of the earlier one.

ASUU ISSUES NEW CONDITIONS - ONCE BEATEN........

ASUU Issues New Condition Before Calling Off Strike!

Seemingly trying to avoid the past scenario whereby the FG claimed that those who signed the past agreement were " oyingbo traders", ASUU is insisting that all governmental bodies linked with funds and funding must sign the new agreement too. Lamzatblog hereby states that this is spurious and goes against the well known pinciple of Agency. It is trite that once a Principal signs in good faith, the contract becomes binding ab ini tio. For ASUU to be thinking along this line that the President cannot sign on behalf of the Nation smacks of ignorance.

This new demand from ASUU is laughable and very elementary. Erudite scholars are supposed to know more than this. We hereby urge them to retrace their steps and call off the strike immediately.

**Ministry of Education, labour, Central bank, national Assembly, office of the Presidency, NUC, TETF, TUC, NLC must sign the agreement.

The members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) after The president authorized the payment of N1.1 trillion has marshaled out conditions to be met by President Goodluck Jonathan before the strike is to be called off.

The new conditions, includes that all Federal parastatals in charge of fund, Labour, and Education must sign the agreement purportedly reached between its leadership and the Federal Government on Tuesday.
The ASUU leader said that government meeting the above condition, would give them the confidence that the Federal Government knows what it is doing when it signed the agreement.

He stated that since the Federal Government promised to release N220bn every year for five years (N1.1trillion), then all monetary and regulatory agencies must sign. The Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministries of Finance and Labour, National Assembly, Office of the Presidency, National Universities Commission, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Trade Union Congress and our umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour Congress, must sign.

ASUU TO RESUME - UNIVERSITIES SET TO RE-OPEN!

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The official stated that the Vice President and the Supervising Minister of Education have made head-way in resolving the strike, but the final involvement of the President is to show ASUU that there is the commitment of the Federal Government at the highest level.

President Jonathan to meet ASUU on Monday, November 4 *Universities may re-open next week

Scan-News can authoritatively reveal that in a last ditch effort to resolve the ASUU strike, President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday, November 4, meet with the leadership of ASUU at the Presidential Villa.



This was part of the resolutions of the meeting between the ASUU leadership, Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Supervising Minister of Education on Tuesday as was first reported by this medium.

An official of the Vice President's office who pleaded anonymity told Scan News that all hands are now on deck to ensure that the universities resume next week.

The official stated that the Vice President and the Supervising Minister of Education have made head-way in resolving the strike, but the final involvement of the President is to show ASUU that there is the commitment of the Federal Government at the highest level.

It was learnt that the President has been fully briefed on steps taken by Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Supervising Minister of Education to get to this point.

It was learnt that the President will at next Monday's meeting present to the ASUU leadership the administration's last concession for them to call off the prolonged strike.

A source at the Presidential Villa noted that if ASUU fails to call off, the Federal Government will then resort to plan B, which will be to compulsorily open the universities, using the instrumentality of the governing councils and the school managements.

Already, most of the governing councils of the universities have started meeting to work out modalities for the compulsory re-opening of the universities should ASUU fail to honour the personal request of President Jonathan.

Scan News gathered that the Supervising Minister of Education, Barr.

Nyesom Wike and the Vice Chancellors of Public Universities also discussed the re-opening of the schools last Monday. Most of the Vice Chancellors suggested the compulsory re-opening of the schools, should the last ditch efforts fail.

It was gathered that security report available to the Presidency may have necessitated this line of action to salvage the universities system from the direction it is facing at present.

OOU Focus

#ASUU - OBASANJO'S GOVT WAS FOOLISH - DAVID MARK!

THE Senate has disclosed that the Federal Government negotiation team that signed the 2009 agreement with ASUU, ignorantly signed the pact that has now become a bone of contention between the government and the union.

Senate President, David Mark, made this known on Wednesday as the upper legislative body waded into the prolonged impasse.

Mark said he had thought that details of the agreement, as revealed by the Senate Committee on Education, were mere proposals in view of the degree of trivialities involved.

According to him, the nature of the agreement showed that those who represented the Federal Government at the negotiation table where it was signed, were people who did not know their right from their left.

The Senate, however, appealed to the university lecturers to suspend the strike to prevent further worsening of the country’s education sector.

The upper legislative body, in a motion moved by Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba and supported by 106 senators, noted that the development was already a national embarrassment.

According to the senators, both the leadership of ASUU and the executive should shift grounds on the strike because the 2009 agreement was defective.

The lawmakers, however, mandated the Senate Committee on Education to continue to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), ASUU and other relevant stakeholders to stem further strikes in the education sector.

The Senate President was also mandated to engage President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of ASUU in a meaningful dialogue with a view to bringing the strike to an end.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, disclosed that ASUU, in the agreement, was demanding N1.5trillion, comprising varsity funding and Earned Allowance for lecturers.

Acccording to him, the lecturers demanded that the government should spread the implementation of the pact for a period of three years at N500bn per year.

Admitting that some clauses in the agreement were ambiguous, Chukwumerije said ASUU had been fruastrating efforts by the government to raise funds to meet the lecturers’ demands.

He cited an instance that the ASUU rejected the N130billion offered by the government, comprising of N100bn for funding and N30billion as Earned Allowances.

Senators who contributed to the debate agreed that varsity education had been under-funded in the country but also noted that the some demands of ASUU were outrageous.

Senator Sola Adeyeye, a Professor of Molecular Biology, who said he had been in the university system since 1968 before venturing into politics, noted that there was no where in the world where such agreement could be implementable.

He specifically said that most of the demands of ASUU, including Injury Allowances, Excess Workload, Examination Allowance and Supervision of Project Allowances, Maternity Allowance, Injury Allowance and Sick Allowance, among others, were outrageous.

“I asked ASUU during one of our meetings: is there any nation where any of such allowances are paid according to international standard?

“A typical teacher teaches two courses in a semester for three hours a week. You are paid salaries, why should you be paid again for these other things? Where in the world are lecturers paid examination allowances?

“Where is a professor paid allowances for supervising post graduate students? Why is he a professor in the first place? What you cannot ask for in other spheres ought not be asked for here.

“The standard practice in the United States is that if you go on sabbatical, you’ll be paid for six months; if you spend more than that, you have to fund it yourself. Where in the world do you say the Federal Government should be involved in the funding of state universities?”, Adeyeye queried.

Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, revealed that despite the release of N100 billion for infrastructural development to the universities, as well as additional N30 billion as accumulated allowances by the government, the lecturers have refused to be pacified.

Also speaking, Senator Ita Enang, said ASUU needed to understand that the money it was demanding for was not appropriated for in the 2013 budget and therefore would be unlawful for the Federal Government to make such a release.

He queried the source of the N100 billion released by the Federal Government to the universities so far, saying such appropriation is not contained in the current budget.

He added that most of the demands of ASUU are at variance with their terms of employment, saying, they were political.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, suggested full autonomy for varsities so that they could charge fees and reduce their heavy reliance on government funding.

Senator Mark specifically took a swipe at those who signed the agreement on behalf of the government and noted that the negotiators were ignorant of the document they appended their signatures on.

Listening to the agreement that was signed by the Federal Government as Comrade Uche Chukwumerije read out, I was really wondering whether this was signed or it was just a proposal.

“But when he concluded, he said it was signed. It only shows the level of people the executive sent to go and negotiate on their behalf because, ab initio, people must be told the truth, what can be accomplished and what cannot be accomplished.

“If a leader says I am going to accomplish this, he is morally duty bound to honour it. But even if you decided immediately after that you cannot accomplish it, I think it is only proper for you to go back and start renegotiating.

“But if you prolong it on the basis that you are still going to honour it and you don’t honour it, then it doesn’t portray us in good light.

“This is where the Federal Government ought to call those who were party to this agreement.

“On the other hand, I think ASUU simply took advantage of the ignorance of those who were sent and simply just allowed this agreement to go on because it is obvious that this is going to be very difficult piece of paper to implement.

“They found that those who were sent there simply didn’t know their right from their left and they just went ahead.

“I think that also is not fair because ASUU is an organisation in Nigeria and we are not going to go to another country to implement this piece of paper.

“It was obvious to me as soon as Uche (Chukwumerije) concluded that this was a difficult thing for them to implement.

e said both parties should shift grounds because not doing so will worsen the social, economic and political crisis in the country.

He pleaded with ASUU to suspend the strike while further negotiations continue while the Federal Government should call those who negotiated on its behalf, back to the negotiation table.

He noted that ASUU had made a point and challenged the government to learn how to respect agreement but noted that the contentious ones may be difficult to implement.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has again appealed to the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members to allow reason to prevail by calling off the over three-month-old strike action, saying, “ clearly, strike actions are detrimental to the growth and development of our educational system.”

Speaking during the 29th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin, President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by the Supervising Minister for Education, Chief Nyesome Wike, said the Federal Government recently released the sum of N130 billion to the nation’s universities for infrastructural development and payment of earned allowances to staff.

He also said that government had increased the budget of education progressively from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2013 with N55.74 billion allocated to the university sub-sector alone.

In a related development lecturers at the Delta State University, Abraka, on Wednesday, staged a peaceful rally against the recalcitrant posture of the Federal Government towards the implementation of the 2009 agreement reached with it.

This is just as the union handed down the warning to both the Federal Government and Delta State government to stop their threat not to pay the striking lecturers on the basis of “no work, no pay,” saying they should also prepare for their own policy of “no pay, no work.”

OYO HERBALISTS BACK ASUU!!

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Students have called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities not to betray them in the on-going strike. They said they would not like a situation when the strike would be called off without achieving anything.

This came as herbalists in Oyo State pledged their support for ASUU.

According to the President of the herbalists in the state, Dr. Arunoyemi Asanlaye, “we are in support of ASUU on the on-going strike”.

The students in large number at a town hall meeting, tagged, Save Public Education Campaign, which was organised by ASUU, UI chapter at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan Monday showed their displeasure at the seeming docility and indifference of the Nigeria Labour Congress calling on the labour union to embark on solidarity strike to force government to respond to ASUU demands.

Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, Chairman, ASUU UI chapter, said the union would use any method to actualize their demands clarified that the struggle was not about the salaries of lecturers but the funding of education in the country.

Ajiboye said, “We are using so many methods. We cannot tell you when to move to Bodija Market. That is part of our strategies.

Instead of begging ASUU, the government should declare a state of emergency in the education sector”.

Responding to the call by the students, Mr. Bashir Olanrewaju, NLC Chairman in Oyo State, said, “By Wednesday, we will come out with a more proactive stance on the strike. Though, students have called on us to go on strike, we will not go on strike now. We will only mediate. If an affiliate has a problem, joining it in strike will collapse the whole system.

We have never been docile about the incident”.

Prof. Remi Raji, lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, said, ”Government should look at the NEEDS Assessment report. It is almost a year now that the 169 recommendations had been made and nothing has been done.

Salary of lecturers is just one of the nine demands of ASUU”.

Via: Vanguard Newspaper

OMOTOLA BLASTS PRESIDENT JONATHAN ON ASUU!

Nice1 Omosexy! This is what being an astute role model is all about! Keep it up.

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Multiple award-winning Nollywood actress and singer, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, on Tuesday, posted a series of tweets on ongoing ASUU strike in Nigeria. Posting from her Twitter account @Realomosexy4h, her tweets read:

Omotola. j .Ekeinde @Realomosexy
Education is a right not privilege.This should be the 1st Responsibility of every parent,state and country to their child.#Nigeria#education

Omotola. j .Ekeinde @Realomosexy
Why are Students of the Most Populous Black Nation in the World, “Giant”of Africa NOT in school?where are all the educational funds? #Nigeria

Omotola. j .Ekeinde @Realomosexy
Why is there a crippling silence when Nigerian Schools have been SHUT 4 months and the youths are wasting away with their future uncertain?

Omotola. j .Ekeinde @Realomosexy
Barka de sallah. As we pray, eat and relax today.It’s a Holiday,lets spare sometime to think.Youths!Your destiny is in your hand.#Nigeria