BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja
ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke and President Muhammadu Buhari
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has kicked against the two-week ultimatum issued by President Muhammadu Buhari to end the strike action embarked by university lecturers.
President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, said that the crisis wouldn't end until the elites enroll their children in public schools.
Buhari had on Tuesday given the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu two weeks to resolve the issues bordering on the prolonged strike action embarked upon by the ASUU.
BOblogs reports that President Buhari issued the ultimatum at a meeting with the minister and other relevant agencies.
Aside the directive, the President also mandated the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha to be part of the team that would address the lingering crisis with ASUU.
Present at the meeting were Adamu, Ngige, and Mustapha, as well as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; and Director-General of Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.
ASUU had commenced on a nationwide strike since February 14, 2022 over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the government as the payment system for university staff members.
Other issues raised by ASUU were non-payment of salaries and allowances of some staff, poor funding of universities and the inability of government to pay earned academic allowance to lecturers.
But Prof Osodeke stated that its against the principle of natural justice and the doctrine of equality for Dr Ngige to assume the role of conciliator in the crisis.
He added, "ASUU has always had serious reservations about the claim of “conciliation” by someone who has taken sides in the dispute, or by an unabashed protagonist in the crisis such as the current Minister of Labour and Employment. It is antithetical to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions (98, 151 & 154) on collective bargaining."
“It is against the principle of natural justice and the doctrine of equality for Dr Ngige, who carries himself as if he has personal scores to settle with ASUU and shoots down the union everywhere it matters, to assume the role of conciliator.”
While featuring on Today, Channels Television current affairs programme yesterday, the ASUU President said that lecturers are yearning to return to the classrooms as soon as the government fulfils the agreement.
According to him, “As a union, we also look at history – look at past precedents, until the issues are resolved, I don’t believe we…this will not even make any difference because this is not the first ultimatum given on this strike. Remember, when the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council met with the President on the 1st of February, they also set up a three-man committee to quickly resolve this issue within one month; and that was the Chief of Staff (to the President), the Minister of Labour (Employment and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige) and the Minister of Education (Adamu Adamu). That committee didn’t invite us for a meeting until we rolled over the strike in May, that was when they invited us for a meeting. The NLC issued an ultimatum and that committee called a meeting.”
"After the negotiation, ASUU gave the government six weeks. That was 22nd of May, we are (now) in July. We agreed on six weeks. That has expired, nothing happened. Now, (it is) another two weeks. Where we are, if we are serious, if we really want to resolve these problems, it should not take two days,” he added.
Speaking on the average salary of a professor, he said, “The average salary of a professor at the bar today is about N400,000 a month – the highest rank, after you have spent about 10 years as a professor. When you are starting, it is about N300,000 as a professor. At the end, you earn N400,000.”
Osodeke added, “But when you compare it to other areas – the high impact areas, the most high-impact area in the whole world is academics, not NNPC, not Central Bank (of Nigeria). It is academics, where you take your best brains to; those who make First Class. For you to be a Lecturer 1, you must have Second Class Upper. That is your best brain and that is what they look out for in the world. And in this country, when you look at our history in the 60s, 70s, 80s, the only public servants that earned more than a professor was the Chief Justice of the Federation. A professor earned more than a minister, even more than a permanent secretary. You can check the records. Today, they have been relegated. They are not even earning anything. Check what a senator earns."
“We are not even talking about the Nigerian system, university is universal. When you go to universities in Ghana, you will see Nigerians working there, Indians, Asians. In Nigeria, like in the 60s when they were well paid, when you go to Nigerian universities, you will see people from Europe, America working in Nigerian universities. There was pay parity. But today, they have all left. Even Ghanaians, they used to be here; they have left. Today, you don’t see Africans coming to Nigerian universities", he said.
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