THE
Academic Staff Union of Universities said on Wednesday that the Federal
Government’s resort to blackmail would not force it members back to the
classroom.
ASUU maintained that it would continue
to stand by the sanctity of the agreement the Federal Government
voluntarily entered into with it in 2009.
The chairperson of the union,
University of Port Harcourt Branch, Prof. Antonia Okerengwo, who said
this while briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, explained
that contrary to Federal Government’s claim, the union was not fighting
for itself, but for the revitalisation of tertiary institutions in the
country.
Okerengwo expressed regret that rather
than fulfill its promises to ASUU by reviving the Nigerian education
sector, the Federal Government had resorted to blackmail.
The union was reacting to claims by the
Federal Government that some politicians were encouraging university
lecturers to disregard its appeal to call off the ongoing strike.
“The resort to blackmail is not the
solution to the present impasse as we cannot run away from our
problems. We cannot continue to pretend or wish that these problems do
not exist. Practical problems need practical solutions.
“The media must also begin to ask
questions about the cost of governance in this country so that we can
see the alternative forgone in terms of education, healthcare and
infrastructure,” she added.
Describing the action of the Federal
Government as tantamount to the “repudiation of an agreement that was
negotiated and signed,” Okerengwo said, “The negotiation itself took
three years (2006-2009). As was agreed in 2012, evidenced by the
Memorandum of Understanding, government promised to release N100bn
immediately in 2012 and N400bn in 2013.
“It may interest you and the general
public to note that the technical committee set up by NEC to review
NEEDS assessment report also recommended that the sum of N800bn would
be required in the short term of two years (N400bn per year) for
revitalisation.
“But this has remained a mere promise,
as only N100bn for 2012, which is 20 per cent of what is due as at
today, has been released. The fact is that the N100bn is the amount due
and outstanding since 2012. The question therefore is what about the
N400bn for 2013?”
She explained that while a country like
Ghana was earmarking 31 per cent of its annual budget to education,
Nigeria was allocating a paltry seven per cent to the sector.
She disagreed with insinuations that
the union had not been patient enough with the Federal Government,
recalling that ASUU wrote over 52 letters to government and lobbied
some members of the National Assembly on the need to revamp the
education sector.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress
on Wednesday called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure a full
restoration of normalcy into the troubled education sector in the
country.
The President of the NLC, Mr.
Abdulwahed Omar, who stated this in a statement issued in Abuja, said
the call was necessary in order to prevent a total paralysis of the
sector.
Omar said, “We urge Mr. President to
muster all the necessary will and skill to confront the issues that
threaten this vital sector.
“The threat of a total shut-down is
present and immediate and this deserves all the urgency and
mobilisation that Mr. President could muster.”
The NLC boss noted that the development in the education sector was symptomatic of greater ills in the polity.
He argued that the strike by the ASUU
for instance had entered the fourth month and had almost certainly
disrupted an entire academic session with collateral consequences.
Sources: punch
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