We can’t meet ASUU’s N284bn demand now–FG

 

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige

The Federal Government on Wednesday said while it had met seven out of the eight demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, it could not meet the union’s demand for earned allowance worth N284bn.
This, the Federal Government said, was due to economic recession.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said this while answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ngige said there was no way the government could pay the allowance because there was no money.
The minister said the government had conceded to the union the right to exclude endowment funds that accrued to universities from the Treasury Single Account.
He said while the government agreed to ASUU’s demand to exclude endowment funds from the TSA, that did not mean that universities’ councils would not have right to audit such an account.
Ngige added, “The other aspect of it is the earned allowance. The earned allowance is the only one that is not sorted out now because everybody knows and agrees that we are in a recession.
“If we are in a recession and you are asking us to pay you N284bn, nobody will pay it because the money is not there.
“So, they (ASUU) agreed and the National Assembly also agreed, but the government offered them some amount pending when we finish auditing of the first tranche of money that has been given to them in that same area of earned allowances.
“That tranche of money that they collected is being audited, but the auditing process is very slow because some people for some strange reasons are not allowing auditing to take place. So, a time frame has been fixed of six months within which the auditing will be done.
“Within those six months, government has offered something that they will be paying on a monthly basis and ASUU has also made a counter proposal to government so both parties have gone back to their principals.
“ASUU has a principal which is the national executive body and government has come  back to look at our finances viz-a-viz with the National Assembly which will appropriate that particular fund because for 2016, there is nothing in the budget for it. It will be done and appropriated as and when due.”
Ngige said ASUU was expected to return to the negotiating table with its counter proposal.

Senate summons Adeosun as it fails to stop ASUU strike

Nigeria Senate

Attempts by the Senate to stop the warning strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which started on Wednesday - yesterday -, have failed.

Senate President Bukola Saraki presided over a three-hour closed-door meeting with the officials of the union.

Saraki did not, however, speak with journalists after the crucial meeting.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund, Senator Jibrin Barau, who addressed journalists, said the Senate could not stop the warning strike.

He, however, said its intervention would prevent the strike from transforming to an indefinite action.

Barau added that the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had been asked to attend a meeting of a committee comprising officials of ASUU and the ministries of education and  labour on Thursday.

The meeting on Wednesday was also attended by the officials of the Ministry of Education as well as representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who was absent at the meeting, was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka.

Barau said the lawmakers had a “fruitful deliberation” with the striking lecturers, adding that “a way forward has been found” and that “the issues will soon be resolved.”

He admitted that the warning strike would continue while the Senate worked towards preventing the lecturers from embarking on a total strike.

The senator announced that a sub-committee, made up of representatives of all the stakeholders had been set up while the panel would continue with the roundtable discussions on Thursday.

He said what the Senate had done was to create a template for dialogue, describing an end to the crisis as “a work in progress.”

Barau said, “We have had a fruitful deliberation and a way forward has been found by creating a sub-committee of this committee to sit and find out certain things in the Ministry of Finance, which will bring us closer to the resolution of this problem.

“We will start sitting tomorrow (Thursday), including the Minister of Finance (Kemi Adeosun), who has not been able to attend this meeting but we are sure she will be here tomorrow and the Director-General of the Budget Office.

“We have created a template on how to resolve this problem. And you know ASUU is a democratic body, they have to consult. So, it’s ongoing; it’s a work in progress and a very important headway has been created. A good template has been created and we see light at the end of the tunnel.”

The National President of ASUU, Abiodun Ogunyemi, who earlier declined to speak on the outcome of the meeting, later thanked the Senate for its intervention.

 He said, “We have discussed and our union will work with him (Saraki). We will do all possible, with the approval of our membership, to get the matter resolved as soon as possible.”

The Senate had, on Tuesday, expressed its resolve to intervene in the face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU.

The lawmakers had specifically asked to intervene in the matter and prevent ASUU from embarking on the one-week warning strike.

The lawmakers, during the plenary on Tuesday, urged the two parties to embrace dialogue.

A document containing the demands of ASUU, which was obtained from one of its executive members after the meeting, indicated that demands bothered on the implementation of the 2009 agreement and the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding between the union and the Federal Government.

Under the ‘Payment of fractions of staff entitlements’, ASUU said, “The 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement Implementation Committee had submitted a report of the outstanding balance of N65, 833, 047,372.24 (2009-2013) plus N62,417‚645‚224.23 (2014-2016), amounting to an unpaid balance of N128‚250‚692‚596.47. This was in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Government and ASUU, while resolving the crisis of June-November, 2013.

“ASUU stated that the initial N30bn paid university staff as part of EAA (earned allowance) in 2013 was given to the governing councils, not the union, as presented by the ministry. The union also corrected the impression that the record of the balance of the EAA had not been submitted by the lMC. The minister subsequently directed the Director of Tertiary Institutions to expeditiously address the matter to enable him to follow up on the matter.”

ASUU denies plans to embark on strike on October 2nd

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has denied media reports saying it was planning to embark on a one-week warning strike. The News Agency of Nigeria NAN yesterday quoted the Chairman of the University of Abuja chapter of ASUU, Ben Ugheoke, as saying the union will on October 2nd embark on a one week warning strike to press home their demands fro the full implementation of the 2009 agreements they had with the Federal government.

In an interview with Premiumtimes today, Ugheoke denied making such an announcement in an interview he granted a NAN reporter.

“A certain reporter in NAN is responsible for this damage. As a result of this falsified report, I am facing a panel later tonight from ASUU National body. I have reached out to the NAN reporter and he told me it was a mix-up. He also begged me to save his job. We have never given a date for any form of strike, whether warning strike or full blown strike. There was nothing like a date fixed for a strike” he said.

Ugheoke says he hopes the agency will release a rebuttal to the false report soon. ASUU on August 31st, threatened to embark on a nationwide strike over the non-implementation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.

ASUU Calls For Release Of Funds and Delayed Salaries

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for the immediate release of 495 billion Naira Revitalisation Funds for universities, implementation of the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement and MOU of 2013 as well as the payment of Earned Academic Allowances.

The Union is also demanding that the government resolves the issue of payment of salaries in fractions which it began since December 2015 and the registration of NUPEMCO among other problems.
The ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Professor Nsing Ogar, represented by University of Calabar chairperson, Dr. Tony Eyang, made the call while briefing Journalists in Calabar on some disturbing developments faced by Campuses.
According to him, a huge cloud of uncertainty hangs over the University system in the country due to a number of unresolved issues which if not resolved, will hinder the growth and development of Universities across the country.
The Unical ASUU boss said, six months in 2013, ASUU waged a struggle for the revitalisation of the universities through the implementation of the 2009 agreement and up till now, it is saddening that, there has been no indication of seriousness on the part of the Federal Government to honour the MOU reached.
He further disclosed that, government’s unilateral proscription of the Post-UTME test is another issue causing so much tension at the moment which according to the Union, rubs the University of its autonomy and the responsibility of determining and controlling the quality of people for admission.
He maintained that, the cancellation of the Post-UTME test without consulting critical stakeholders, Vice Chancellors and University administrators is an unhelpful and regrettable action that has to be reversed.

ASUU threatens to embark on strike after FG ignores demands

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) through its Lagos Zone Coordinator, Prof. Olusoji Sowande at a news conference in Lagos on Tuesday, threatened to embark on a nationwide strike in regards to its demands for the implementation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.
Sowande said the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on funding of state universities, breaches of the conditions of service and re-negotiation of the agreement, exclusion of Nigerian universities from Pension Management Company and non-release of NEEDS Assessment Intervention Fund were still being ignored.
He said:

“The review of the agreement should have been undertaken in 2012 and 2015 but that did not happen.‎ “The implication is that our union has shown enough patriotism and understanding on these matters in the last four years.

“We are perplexed and disappointed that both the Federal and State Governments are not responding to our consistent appeals to bring about genuine transformation in the education sector, ‘’ he said.

He said they would rather not embark on a strike because it is the Students and ASUU members that end up suffering. Adding:

“It is unfortunate that the only language government appears to respect and listens to is that of industrial action like strike”.

ASUU berates FG over poor funding of varsities

Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has raised the alarm over funding of universities in the country.
The union called on President Muhammadu Buhari to save the universities by paying the outstanding N550bn NEEDS assessment intervention fund.
The fund was last paid in 2013 during the Goodluck Jonathan adminisration, while that for 2014 (N220bn), 2015 (N220bn) and 2016 (N110bn) have not been paid.
It said government attitude to funding education is killing the industry and making it difficult for it to be globally competitive and causing massive brain drain.
ASUU wondered why out of the capital budget allocated to education in the 2016 budget, 38 per cent went to Federal Government secondary schools, while only five per cent, three per cent and eight per cent were allocated to Federal Polytechnics, Colleges of Education and Universities respectively.

ASUU further tasked the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, to attend to issues of Earned Academic allowances, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU/FGN agreements, staff salaries, academic pension, TSA and university autonomy and budgetary allocation to education raised at their previous meetings before the university system is plunged into industrial crisis.
ASUU in a statement jointly signed by the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Ade Adejumo and Chairman UI Chapter, Dr. Deji Omole respectively, and made available to journalists, said Federal Government must inject funds into education for Nigerian universities to be globally competitive.
According to them, government cannot expect any miracle from its grossly under-funded universities to compete with their adequately funded and highly motivated academics around the globe.

According to ASUU, it is sad that the present government has further reduced budgetary allocation to education to worsen the sector from 11 per cent in 2013, 12 per cent in 2014, 11 per cent in 2015 to eight per cent in the 2016 budget.
They further lashed out at government officials for always shedding crocodile tears at university convocation where they decried low ranking of Nigerian universities while they take their children to study abroad.
ASUU also carpeted the present administration for fractional, irregular, non-payment of salaries and other personnel emoluments, adding that the union will resist any further attempt to erode university autonomy.
While noting that no country can develop beyond her educational institutions, ASUU cautioned the Federal Government against taking the union for granted.

It warned that while it is fully aware of the present socio-economic situations, government must continue to attend to critical sectors of the economy and find home grown models to rescue it from the present doldrums.