ASUU CALLS ON STAKEHOLDERS TO COMPEL FG HONOUR ITS AGREEMENTS.
By Fidelis Jockthan.
The Academic Staff Union Of Universities(ASUU), Yola Zone, has called on stakeholders to compel the federal government to honour its agreements with the union so as to avert another impending nationwide strike action.
The union said Nigerians will regret bitterly the kind of action ASUU will deviced towards pressing home its demands, and advised the citizens not to blame its members but the federal government.
The academic union further vowed not to entertain any plea from any stakeholder to call off its industrial action whenever its members down tool, saying it is going to be an indefinite total shutdown of all universities.
The ASUU equally observed with dismay, the small salary of its members and regretted that the union has no option than to draw a battle line with the federal government.
The Yola Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Dr.Reuben Jonathan, gave the indication, when he led top scholars of the union during a press conference at the NUJ press centre Yola, Adamawa state
The Coordinator of the union told newsmen that the zone convened at the Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Yola on Thursday, December 9th 2021 and reviewed the Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into with the FG on 23rd December, 2020, after a prolonged strike by the union.
Jonathan recalled that in their press conference in Yola on the 15th September 2021, the union briefed the press on the government’s refusal and foot-dragging in implementing the said agreement, lamenting that since then, nothing has been done by the government to address the issues beside propaganda and blackmail.
He explained that the issues in contention remain: renegotiationof the 2009 Agreement, University Transparency Accountabilty Solutions (UTAS), State of the State Universities, Revitalisation Funds for Public Universities and Earned Academic Allowances(EAA).
On the issue of renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, he lamented that the refusal of the government to address the issue has left them on the same salary for 12 years even as the government has reviewed the minimum wage twice.
While on UTAS, he noted that they have developed a robust and dynamic system known as UTAS which passed through integrity test without shortcoming, but unfortunately, the beneficiaries of corrupt -laden Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System(IPPIS) have continued to ensure that UTAS does not see the light of the day.
According to him, it it worrisome to note that the state governments in recent times have politicised the establishment of state universities, leading to the neglect of the noble values of universities and universal entities, and that undue interference in the governance of these universities is counterproductive and erodes the autonomy of the universities.
