Fed Govt to lecturers: we’ve done our best

The Federal Government yesterday restated its
call that striking university lecturers should
return to work in the interest of students.
Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku
spoke in Abuja during the ministry’s monthly
media briefing.
He said government had conceded to most of
the demands of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU).
Maku said the government’s commitment to
resolve the crisis was further demonstrated by
its representation by Vice President Namadi
Sambo in the dialogue.
He said: “Salaries have been increased by 54.3
per cent, which is half of our monthly income.
But they (lecturers) still insist on their N100
billon allowance.
“The government offered N30 billion, but after
a meeting with the vice president, the
government promised another N10 billion,
making it N40 billion.
“The government has also promised N100
billion from the Education Trust Fund and the
N40 billon allowance has been paid in many
universities. Yet, they are still under lock and
key.
“We are doing infrastructure in the
universities. For example, we have 38 new
buildings in the University of Benin. No one
would want our teachers to suffer because I
have worked as a teacher, same as the
President. But we cannot give all that they are
asking for.
“No nation can move forward if we all expect
the government to give a 100 per cent time
and effort to our problems. We run an
economy that needs attention in all phases.”
Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has
said the policy of “no work, no pay” would be
applied for the ongoing strike by the academic
workers of the State University (DELSU) in
Abraka.
The governor spoke on Monday night in Abuja
during the fund-raising of N25 billion by the
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark Foundation.
He said the action became necessary since
several appeals to the lecturers to call off their
strike did not yield any result.
Uduaghan explained that the “no work, no pay”
policy was adopted because ASUU’s demands
had no bearing with the lecturers in the state
university.
The governor again urged the striking lecturers
to suspend the action.
He said: “Let me once again appeal to ASUU to
listen to the appeals of the Federal Government
and Nigerians and resume work in the interest
of the students and educational growth in the
country.”
A former Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Munzali
Jubril, yesterday blamed the Goodluck Jonathan
administration for the lingering ASUU strike.
The government, Jubril said, had been releasing
only 34 per cent of funds meant for federal
universities, following a document the NUC
produced on the funding of federal universities
when the last board was in place.
This funding gap, he said, “now leaves ASUU as
the main agitator for funding to be improved
and for the funding gaps to be filled”.
Jubril added: “The government does not listen
to its own agencies. If the executive
secretaries, right under government, write 100
memos, appear before 100 committees and
make 100 submissions, they will amount to
nothing.”
The renowned professor of English and a
former Provost of the Nigerian Defence
Academy (NDA) spoke in Abuja at the
anniversary lecture of the NUC at 50+1.
He regretted that the government always
waited for ASUU to go on strike before giving
universities what they deserved.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom
Wike, promised that the government would
resolve the ASUU face-off.
But he insisted that due process must be
followed.
Wike, who was represented by the Permanent
Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Macjohn
Nwaobiala, said: “Indeed, these are turbulent
times for higher education in Nigeria, not just
because of the current challenges being
experienced but more importantly in terms of
the direction in which higher education should
be going.”
The police yesterday stopped a street protest
organised by the Niger Delta University’s
(NDU’s) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa
State capital.
Police Commissioner Hilary Opara was said to
have issued the order to the leadership of
ASUU-NDU to stop the protest.
The aggrieved university lecturers held their
protest within the university’s Law Faculty in
Yenagoa.
The placard-carrying lecturers converted the
protest to a prayer session, where they prayed
to “cast and bind” all the spirits that had
prevented the government from honouring its
agreement with ASUU.
The Chairman of ASUU-NDU, Beke Sese,
addressed the rally.
He said the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to
Governor Seriake Dickson interrogated him few
hours to the protest.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin
(UNILORIN), Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali,
yesterday urged the striking university
lecturers and the Federal Government to
resolve their differences and end the strike.