EVERY GOVT. MONETARY PARASTATAL MUST SIGN TO AGREEMENT ASUU TELLS FG

CULLED: PUNCH

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities have given the
Federal Government certain conditions to be met before the union could call off its four-month old strike.
Part of this condition, Saturday PUNCH learnt, is that all federal
parastatals in charge...
of fund, labour, and education must sign the
agreement purportedly reached between its leadership and the Federal
Government on Tuesday.
A prominent member of the union, who craved anonymity because he was
not authorised to speak on behalf of the union, toldSaturday PUNCHthat
doing this would give the association the confidence that "the Federal
Government knows what it is doing when it signed the agreement."
He said, "I must tell you that our mandate remains. The only mandate
we have is that 2009 agreement must be met. We have not reached any
agreement with the Federal Government.
"Since the Federal Government  wants to be releasing N220bn every year
for five years, then all monetary and regulatory agencies must sign.
The  Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministries of Finance and Labour,
National Assembly, Office of the Presidency, National Universities
Commission, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Trade Union Congress and
our umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour Congress, must sign with
consequences stated.
"The reason we will ensure this is that we don't want argument
tomorrow that the agreement was entered in error or that they don't
know the implication of signing the agreement. If possible, documents
that will provide for automatic deduction of the agreed money at a
particular/agreed date must be provided."
The leadership of the union had engaged in a 13-hour marathon meeting
with  government delegation  led by President Goodluck Jonathan in
Abuja between Monday and Tuesday.
Though it was generally perceived that both ASUU and the Federal
Government  achieved breakthrough in negotiation for the first time
after the lengthy meeting with the President,Saturday PUNCHlearnt that
the lecturers might not be  in a hurry to go back to class.
Another  source close to ASUU who was also part of the marathon
meeting  with the President in Abuja, said there was nothing new in
what the President promised members of the union.
According to him, government had always failed in implementing
agreements reached with ASUU. He said, "Truly the President sat down
for more than 13 hours with us. He told us that we were not leaving
the venue until the issues were resolved.  The Federal Government also
promised to inject funds into the system, but a promissory note is not
enough.
"Where would the money come from? There  is no assurance that
government will provide money especially with the mop-up policy in
place that ensures that unspent money is refunded to government's
coffers at the end of every year.''
Asked when the lecturers would call off the strike, he said, "I doubt
if the strike is ending soon.  The problem is with the Finance
Minister. Where is government getting N1trn  from? A government that
could not implement agreement between 2009 and 2013, what is the
guarantee that they would honour this agreement.
"It is all politics.  We are still awaiting directives from our
branches. We have told them the outcome of the meeting with the
President but we are waiting for them to tell us what they think of
government's proposal.
"Imagine the Minister of Education has travelled out of the country.
He was appointed Vice President for UNESCO General Assembly.  How can
he travel out of the country without resolving the crisis in the
education sector?''
He said the Federal Government should spend the trillions of dollars
in its Sovereign Wealth Fund to finance university education and
improve infrastructure in the country.
A key component of the agreement reached by both ASUU and the Federal
Government was that government would inject N1.1trn into public
universities in the next five years. Government is expected to inject
N220bn yearly into the public university sector beginning from 2014.
But government said it could only release N100bn this year, noting
that the amount had already been processed.
The Federal Government also indicated that the N1.1trn would be
domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria to show its commitment to the
agreement. The money is expected to be released on quarterly basis to
the universities so that there won't be any problem about funding the
deal.
The National Universities Commission and the Trade Union Congress will
be the joint guarantors of the agreement while the Minister of
Education will be the implementing officer. Government, according to
sources at the meeting, also agreed to revamp public universities by
ensuring that all the issues that always lead to strike are dealt with
once and for all.
Asked to confirm if lecturers were planning to call off their strike,
ASUU Chairman, University of Calabar branch, Dr. James Okpiliya, said
the local chapter was yet to get formal briefing on the meeting with
President Goodluck Jonathan.
He, however, said the union would make its position known to the press
on the President's offer after the end of a meeting scheduled for
mid-night Thursday.
Also, Chairman of ASUU in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof.
Adegbola Akinola, said that members must be properly briefed on the
resolution between the Federal Government and representatives of ASUU
in the last marathon meeting.
He said the only condition that could make its members accept any
offer would be the provision of necessary documents.
He said, "The NEC meeting may not hold now. It is the local congress
that is expected to hold first which is either tomorrow or Monday.
"Our members are not yet briefed about the details, so it is when we
meet that we will know the details and then discuss whether what we
got is sufficient enough to justify our action or demand.
"I can't really pre-empt the mind of other members. But if we are to
accept any offer, there must be document to back that up. We need to
obtain documents on that. Maybe if there is a document, people may
look at it critically."
However, the Federal Government said it would include the N1.1trn
promised ASUU in the education budget starting from next year. It also
said it was waiting for the union to know the next step to take.
The Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry of Education,
Mr. Olu Lipide, told one of our correspondents on Thursday that
government was waiting for ASUU to take the necessary steps.
Meanwhile, the Dean of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Prof.
Omololu Soyombo, has said that the general ASUU body must agree before
the strike could be called off.
He said, "It is difficult to believe the President but we give him the
benefit of doubt. We believe that the President is noble, the ASUU
president promised to give him a feedback. If this had been done
earlier, the strike wouldn't have extended for so long."
Corroborating his view, the Chairman, Lagos State University, ASUU,
Dr. Jamiu Oluwatoki said, "It won't be long again. By next week there
should be a NEC meeting and subsequently the congress meetings before
the president can call off the strike."