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ASUU: FG moves to register a rival union, to decide in December
The Federal Government has moved to register a rival union to the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The Federal Government has moved to register a rival union to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as it has given the committee responsible for the consideration of a request for registration of Congress of University Academic (CONUA) 4 weeks to submit its report.
This is coming as members of ASUU, who have continued with their 10-month old strike, are scheduled to resume their negotiations with the Federal Government on Friday, November 20, 2020.
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This hint was given by the Minister for Labour and Employment, Sen Chris Ngige, on Thursday, November 19, 2020, when the leadership of Congress of University Academics (CONUA), led by its National Coordinator, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.
While receiving a delegation of CONUA’s leadership whose membership is drawn from university lecturers opposed to ASUU, Ngige commended them for initiating the process to register the union and assured them that their application for registration as trade union would be treated with fairness and without fear or favor.
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The minister expressed regret for the long strike by ASUU, saying that it had impacted negatively on the educational development of the country.
Ngige said, “We are receiving you in audience formally today in this ministry. We have the right to receive associations of persons that are workers, whether we have registered them or not, just as you have the right to apply for registration which is the lawful thing to do.
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“We have the right to receive and hold meetings with you. The journey to have you registered has just started. You have done the right thing by applying and this ministry has also done the right thing by processing your registration.’’
“The review of your application for registration is ongoing. I have put up a committee to look into that review. I will ask the committee to wind up its work. We are giving them four weeks from today to turn in their report to the ministry. Part of our job here is to register unions; it is also part of our job to make sure that unions that are not functional are helped.
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On his part, Sunmonu pointed out that CONUA was enjoying large followership with many universities registering more members by the day since it came on board in February 2018.
While pleading with the minister to use his good office to ensure the registration of the association as an independent academic union, he said that CONUA was established due to irreconcilable differences between its members and ASUU.
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Sunmonu said, “CONUA members are not members of ASUU and we are not ready to be part of ASUU due to irreconcilable differences and modes of operation.’’
“ASUU no longer represent our interest and aspirations. CONUA fits to be described as a group of people who are independent academics and who have decided to come together to form a union committed to the advancement of education in Nigeria.”
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He condemned the prolonged strike in the university system and encouraged unions to rather engage the government constructively rather than down tools every time, considering the negative effect of that on the educational system. He said that CONUA, if finally registered, would always constructively engage the government.
He said, “The government cannot see what we see and we will not see what the government sees, but when we have our mind made up in a constructive manner, we will come to a reasonable agreement to further progress our universities and for the advancement of the nation.
“We want to ensure a seamless and uninterrupted academic calendar in the university system. “This strike has done more damage than good. As academics and researchers, we are supposed to have evaluated the effect of the strike on our institutions, especially on our collective psychic.
“From the preliminary report that we have, the strike has done more harm than good to our universities. Nigerian Universities should rank comfortably with any other university in any part of the world.”
It can be recalled that ASUU has been on strike since March 2020 due to disagreement with the Federal Government over the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) amongst other issues, which the university lecturers said contravenes the policy on autonomy for Nigerian universities.
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Nigeria’s University lecturers union, ASUU, calls off 8-month strike
ASUU called off its eight-month long strike that has grounded academic activities in the public universities.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called off its eight-month-long strike that has grounded academic activities in the public universities. The union took the decision after it agreed to accept government’s total payment of N70 billion.
The was disclosed by ASUU via its Twitter handle on Friday after its meeting with the Federal Government’s team led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.
It tweeted, “The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has shifted ground on FG’s offer. The Union insisted that payment of outstanding salaries must not be done as through the IPPIS platform as promised, if strike would be suspended.”
#JUST IN: The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has shifted ground on FG's offer.
The Union insisted that payment of outstanding salaries must not be done as through IPPIS platform as promised, if strike would be suspended.
Wait for more details#ASUUANDFG— Official_ASUU (@ASUUNGR) November 27, 2020
This is a developing story….
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Terrorism: Nigeria records 39.1% reduction in deaths – GTI Report
Nigeria has recorded a 39.1% reduction in terror-related deaths, according to the 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report.
The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report, published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), based in the United States, indicates that terrorism incidents in Nigeria fell by 27% in 2019.
This represents the lowest level of terrorism in Nigeria since 2011, with terrorism deaths in Nigeria reduced to 1,245 last year – a 39.1% dip from the 2,043 deaths recorded in 2018.
Despite the overall decline in terrorism in Nigeria last year, the country is still ranked as the third most impacted country in the world by terrorism, a position it has maintained for five consecutive years since 2015.
According to the latest annual GTI report, Afghanistan and Iraq are respectively the first and second most affected countries by terrorism.
Highlights of the report
- The decline in both terrorism incidents and deaths in Nigeria is attributed to a significant reduction in violence by armed Fulani herdsmen.
- The armed herdsmen are being held accountable for majority of terror-related deaths in 2018, with the latest GTI report showing a 72% decline in fatalities attributed to the herdsmen last year.
- Terror-related deaths and incidents attributed to Boko Haram in Nigeria increased by 25% and 30% respectively from the prior year.
- Over the past year, Boko Haram increased attacks on military targets, with deaths rising from 26 in 2018 to 148 in 2019.
- Globally, deaths from terrorism fell in 2019 to 13,826. This represents a 15% dip from the previous year and the fifth consecutive year of decline since peaking in 2014.
- Conflict remains the primary driver of terrorism, with over 96% of deaths from terrorism in 2019 occurring in countries that are already in conflict.
What you should know
- GTI report is published annually by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) based in the United States.
- The GTI report, now in its eighth year, ranks 135 countries according to how they are impacted by terrorism. The indicators used by the GTI include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries and property damage.
- Boko Haram, the deadliest terrorist group in Nigeria ranks second in the world, behind the Taliban in Afghanistan.
- There are 63 countries in 2019 that recorded at least one death from a terrorist attack and 17 countries that recorded over 100 deaths from terrorism. However, only Afghanistan and Nigeria recorded over 1,000 deaths and both countries had significant reductions in the number of people killed in 2019.
- Globally, the report estimates the economic impact of violence, including military, homicide, incarceration and terrorism to be $14.5 trillion in 2019. This is the equivalent of 10.6% of global GDP. The global economic impact of terrorism alone was estimated to be $26.4 billion last year.
- There are emerging new threats of politically-induced terrorism in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania, though with minimal fatalities.
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Terrorism: Nigeria records 39.1% reduction in deaths – GTI Report
Anonymous
November 21, 2020 at 5:43 am
IPPIS is a scam