“We’ll Not Allow Government To Destroy Public Universities” – ASUU Says

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
Friday, said it would not allow federal and state
governments destroy public universities in the
country.
The union added that aggrieved parents, students
and other stakeholders should hold the Federal
Government responsible for the ongoing one-week
warning strike.
While addressing a press conference in the Niger
Delta University, NDU, Bayelsa, ASUU insisted that
the industrial action was for the best interest of
development of tertiary education in the country.
The NDU chapter Chairman of ASUU, Dr. Stanley
Ogoun, disclosed that the union was out to stand
against any move by politicians, who had started the
business of running private universities, to kill public
institutions.
According to him, “We call on students, parents and
the ordinary people of Nigeria to understand that our
actions are geared towards resisting and frustrating
the attempt by the ruling class to commercialize
and privatize university education in Nigeria.
“We will resist every attempt to kill the university
system the way they killed primary and secondary
schools. If we fail to stand on the side of truth,
posterity will not forgive us.
“Before now, we were receiving subventions to run
the universities, but now they are withdrawing the
subventions. Most state universities are almost
grounded why political actors are floating private
universities”, he said.
“The current state of the economy is manmade and
the government of the day must live up to its
responsibilities by initiating policy options that would
move us out of our current economic state, except
the government is bereft of ideas.”
He lamented the Memorandum of Understanding,
MoU, it signed with the government during the 2009
and 2013 industrial action had not been
implemented.
He added, “For the avoidance of doubt, this current
action is compelled by failure of negotiations and
several entreaties from our union since 2004 till date
and the current trend in some states where staff
salaries are sacrificed on the altar of other
exigencies.”
He said the lecturers were on strike because of
federal government refusal to pay Earned Academic
Allowances, EAA; shortfall in salaries leading to
payment of fractions of staff salaries; non-payment
of salaries of staff in the staff primary schools and
exemption of universities from the Treasury Single
Account, TSA.
He said other reasons were non-release of funds for
the revitalization of public universities; non-release
of subventions to state universities by the visitors
and non-payment of staff salaries and refusal to
issue license for the registration of the Nigerian
University Pension Management Company,
NUPEMCO.

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