The Nigerian Senate has said it will intervene in the current negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to help find a lasting solution to the issues.
This was disclosed by Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan on Tuesday in Abuja to officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
The Association of Nigerian students led by its President, Mr Sunday Asefon, stated that the continued stay at home disrupted the students’ academic programme and urged the intervention by lawmakers in the dispute.
What the Senate President is saying
Lawan said that the Senate will intervene and make concerted and sustained efforts to bring back ASUU and the Federal government to the negotiating table.
“So that we are able to resolve as quickly as possible those issues that are now very knotty and have stopped our Universities from reopening.
“That is now making our students walking the streets all over the country.
“But I want to appeal to you, too, since we are going to make effort to bring back everybody to the negotiating table, you should give us a chance to do that believing that we are going to find a solution.
“Because it is not only enough to bring them back to the negotiating table, but we will participate and I want to make sure that we find the solution when we start the negotiation again.
“Now that you have come here, we are going to make sure that everybody in this sector especially those in public sector who have responsibility and mandate performs their functions. We will make sure they do that.
“Because you have come, I think we also have some tonic enough in us. Time is of the essence and we must do whatever is necessary to get this issue resolved,” he said.
He also urged students not to disrupt political activities during the campaign seasons.
What we need to do is to continue to follow the path of consultation, consolidation and avoid confrontation.
He added that it would be an opportunity to appeal to ASUU to suspend the strike period because there is no way ASUU can negotiate with the Federal government when it is on strike.
“So, it is an opportunity for us to have them, at least create a window, suspend the strike for a certain period and let us see how far we can go,” he said.
What you should know
- The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) extended its ongoing strike for another 12 weeks due to what it described as the ‘Government’s failure to live up to its responsibilities.’
- Nairametrics had reported the confusion surrounding the ASUU strike, as the union alleged that the Federal Government does not take the issue seriously as expected.
- This was confirmed by ASUU when it stated that it did not receive any notice of a meeting, which was supposed to hold on Sunday, from the Ministry of Labour and Employment over its ongoing strike.
TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT
1) The Federal Ministry of Education, National Univers ities Commission & Tertiary Education Fund are accomplices to the crisis in the Education sector. In fact, they aid stealing of the meagre allocation to Education from the National Budget.
2) ASUU is fully aware of the senseless corruption in Nigerian Universities.
Take the case of UNILAG: i) From January to September, 2019, Government released a sum of N7,530,428,535.69 for payment of salaries via the GIFMIS Platform. Out of this, only N4,339,000,277.09 was utilised. The surplus of N3,191,428,258.60 was stolen.
ii) The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was terribly basterdised. From January to September, 2019, the amount realised from students registration fees (Undergraduate & Postgraduate) was N2,579,901,000. The Bursar dubiously reported to Council & the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, N410,679,250 as the amount collected as students registration fees.A sum of N2,169,221,750 was stolen. The Minister & the Perm Sec of the Ministry of Education as well as the Accountant General of the Federation are fully aware of this scandal. Yet, nothing was done to UNILAG Management.
iii) Anybody who has been to UNILAG recently might have seen an abandoned Library project awarded at a cost of N2,000,000,000 (2 billion Naira).
This is the Government, ASUU is fighting over funding & improved conditions of service,forgetting that they’ve a bigger fight at their various campuses. Why is Government reluctant to release White Paper on the reports of the Visitation Panels to Federal Universities? Of course, it is because of the scandals contained in the various reports.
One of the things I discovered as a Council member of the University of Lagos is that the greatest enemy of this country is the 2007 Public Procurement Act. It is more destructive to the country than corruption. The Act was designed with so many loopholes to allow corrupt public officials to loot the nation’s resources. Unless this useless Act is repealed, no Government can checkmate looting of public funds.
As for the current ASUU strike, even if Government concedes to all demands of ASUU, it’s only a temporal solution. There’ll be another round of strikes, if the monster is not eventually killed. For an interim solution to the current impasse, both Government & ASUU must shift grounds.
Dr Dagari writes from
Federal University Gashua
UNILAG Council ex-member: FG, NUC, ASUU doing nothing about corruption in varsities https://thelagostimes.com.ng/unilag-council-ex-member-fg-nuc-asuu-doing-nothing-about-corruption-in-varsities/