ASUU decries delay in renegotiation of union’s 2009 agreement with FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has spoken against the delay in concluding talks on the union’s 2009 agreement with the Federal Government.

The union said despite several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Actions (MoAs) with the government, the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement remained unsigned almost 12 years.

It also accused the Federal Government of unjustly withholding three and a half months salaries of its members and failing to pay the arrears of wage award, promotions and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).

ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed the union’s position yesterday during this year’s ASUU Heroes’ Day at the union’s national secretariat at the University of Abuja UniAbuja).

Osodeke said the situation had been complicated with the enforcement of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) on public universities, even with the pronouncement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to exit the tertiary education institutions.

Last week, the government directed all tertiary institutions to be exempted from IPPIS but asked them to subject their payroll to IPPIS for vetting before payment.

The decision did not go down well with the university’s union which insisted that the government should allow universities to control their budgets.

Osodeke said: “It is rather lamentable that we are still on the struggle to compel the renegotiation of our 2009 Agreement with the Federal Government, 12 years since it should have been concluded and four cycles of renegotiation thereafter.

“It is most disheartening and egregious that despite the several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Action (MoAs), the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement is yet to be renegotiated and signed.

“The situation has been further complicated with the enforcement and persistence of IPPIS on the public universities even with the pronouncement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to exit the tertiary education institutions thereof.

“Not to be forgotten are our three and a half months salaries, which are still unjustly withheld. The arrears of wage award, promotion arrears, etc, and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) are also still outstanding.”

Osodeke announced that the union would offer Ph.D grants to some of its members in various public universities across the country.

The ASUU president said such members would get N500,000 each, after a rigorous assessment of their proposals by experts in their various disciplines.

During the event, ASUU honoured those it called “past and living heroes”.

Osodeke praised the union’s members nationwide for their “courageous comradeship and sacrifices to the cause of our union which forever resonates with the emancipation of the Nigerian public university education and the suffering Nigerian people”.

The union leader accused the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of working relentlessly to destroy Nigeria’s public education system.

He added: “Comrades, like in the past, this year’s celebration of our Heroes’ Day is also taking place as we continue with the struggle to rescue the Nigeria’s public universities from the suffocating clutches of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) whose determination to destroy and bury our public university system has not abated.”

Osodeke alleged that at the state level, ASUU members were still “being punished for fighting for the interest of members and the university system”.

He said: “Let me re-emphasise that we stand with our members in Kogi State University, Lagos State University, Ebonyi State University, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, in their persecution for their principled support and solidarity in the struggle for the defence of the soul of public university education in Nigeria…”