The debilitating effects of the Naira swap policy enacted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has elicited a scathing critique from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement issued on Friday, slammed the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for ambushing Nigerians with the policy.
“Nigerians are gasping for breath under the suffocating atmosphere created by the ruling class is to state the obvious,” he stated.
The ASUU president added that in order to adequately assess the extent of the harm caused by the crisis brought on by the country’s currency redesign, developmental economists would need to make extremely serious efforts.
“The ambush tactic of Godwin Emefiele to ‘eliminate cash’ was applied in India in 2016 with unsalutary consequences. So, ASUU commends the Supreme Court for siding with the suffering Nigerians, whose miserable lives would have been compounded by Emefiele’s policy if they are not sent to their early graves by it.
“In the same way government’s explanation on non-circulation of the redesigned currency is meaningless, no attempt to rationalise non-accessibility of petroleum products is tenable. This outgoing government raised Nigerians’ hope of fixing the country’s refineries when it was coming to power in 2015.
“Eight years down the line, it has been giving one excuse after another; allowing a free rein to the oil subsidy scammers! Nigerians know the truth; they know the local refineries can work if the core leadership of the ruling class is willing to commit class suicide. But it’s a poisonous tablet none is willing to swallow.”
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Meanwhile, the National Council of States declared its support for the naira redesign policy.
Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney-general, said this while addressing journalists at the end of the council’s meeting at the State House, Abuja, on Friday.
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday, opted to continue their nationwide protest, instead of embarking on another round of industrial action over their eight-months’ salaries being withheld by the Federal Government.
The decision was arrived at after a lengthy National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Calabar, Cross River State. A source told Vanguard that the meeting also agreed to continue to engage stakeholders on the way out of the current face-off between the union and the government.
“The National President will officially come out with the communique of the meeting. But we considered reports from branches regarding our nationwide protests and we are glad with what we got. It was agreed that the protests should continue, we need to let Nigerian people see that we have really given the government a long rope.
“Some prominent Nigerians and different groups have been on the matter. Seeking the way out, we also want to give the people more time to intervene too. At least at the end of the day, if we are pushed to the wall, whatever we decide to do, everybody will see that we have tired and endured enough,” the source said.
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A number of personalities, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, intervened and also, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja gave an order for the union to shelve the strike before it would continue to entertain the matter before it.
Recall that when the union called off its strike on October 14, after eight months, the government only paid the lecturers half salary for October and paid them full salary in November.
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Carlo Ancelotti’s team successfully added to their four cups from 2014 to 2018, and their triumph meant European teams have won the past 10 editions of the tournament.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for the immediate sack of the Minister for Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, accusing him of complicating the impasse between Government and ASUU.
Chairman, ASUU, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, MOUAU, Professor Chike Ugwuene, who made the demand during a rally by ASUU members at the university, accused Ngige of “Divide and rule and pro-rata payment of salaries.”
He expressed disappointment over the inability of the Minister to help resolve the lingering face-off between the union and the Federal Government.
Professor Ugwuene said that the Federal Government had no regard for lecturers, hence Government’s refusal to attend to ASUU demands.
He regretted that even when the lecturers out of respect for the court decided to suspend the strike and returned to the classroom with the expectations that Government would fulfil its own part of the, the good gesture of ASUU was reciprocated with half salary
The ASUU boss said that Government had pushed ASUU members to the wall and that they might have no choice “than to break the wall”.
He argued that since the lecturers were clearing the academic works suspended during the strike, the Government’s refusal to pay for the months of the strike was hollow.
“When we came back, the government rewarded us by paying pro-rata as if we are casual workers. The government decided to reduce us.
“In MOUAU, we started with 2021/2022 examinations, but Government didn’t regard that but adopted ‘no work, no pay’. We have shown patriotism enough, else we may begin ‘no pay no work”.
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Speaking at the rally, the National Chairman of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke told Government to stop toying with lecturers and the Education sector.
He urged Government to heed the demands of ASUU to save the education sector from total collapse.
Osodoke, however, said that ASUU had not been defeated as the “federal government has budgeted N470 billion for Nigerian universities”.
He, therefore, urged Government to respect all its agreements with ASUU, accusing the federal government of dragging its feet on education.
Earlier, the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Owerri Zone, Comrade Uzo Onyebinama, said that Government and not ASUU was to be held responsible if anything happened to the education sector.
“We go borrowing and we are living by borrowing. We are not labourers, but the struggle continues”, he said.
In their separate lectures, Professor Irene Ejeh and Prof. C. O. Offor urged the federal government to do all it can to improve the conditions of universities in the country.
The lecturers who carried placards with various inscriptions marched around the campus chanting solidarity songs.
Some of the inscriptions read: “We are rejecting it”; “Nigerians beware of Ngige – enemy of education”; “Education is the bedrock of developing nation” and “On NIMI Briggs agreement we stand”, among others
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This was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, in a terse Whatsapp message on Sunday.
Lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities have received full salaries for the month of November 2022, Noble Reporters Media can confirm.
Our correspondent also gathered that the eight month arrears remained withheld by the Federal Government.
A senior member of the union at the Bayero University Kano made this known in an interview with our corespondent in Abuja on Wednesday.
“Some of our members have started receiving salaries and I can confirm to you that we received our full salaries for the month of November. However, the arrears are still withheld.”
Noble Reporters Media reports that the Federal Government refused to pay the striking lecturers for the eight months which the union embarked on strike.
The lecturers, in October 2022 were also paid pro-rata (half-pay) according to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
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Lecturers across the country have been protesting against this decision by the Federal Government.
The National Executive Council of the union is expected to hold a crucial meeting in the coming days over the withheld salaries.
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Buhari, according to a statement issued on Saturday night by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, will unveil the equipment at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.
The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has accused the Federal Government of not being interested in funding public universities in the country.
It said that underfunding public universities in the country under the pretext that the government has no money was a deliberate attempt to introduce exorbitant school fees that the ordinary Nigerian cannot afford.
Chairperson of the branch, Ibrahim Inuwa, stated this at a press conference held at the ASUU Secretariat, ATBU, shortly after staging a peaceful protest on Tuesday.
Noble Reporters Media reports that the Union held a congress, after which they staged the protest from their secretariat and marched to the main ATBU gate and back to their starting point.
They sang solidarity songs and carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “ASUU calls for deployment of UTAS”, “ASUU rejects prorating of academics’ salaries”, “ASUU is more patriotic than FGN officials”, “Release withheld salaries of academics”, “We say no to privatization of public universities”, “IPPIS & Pro-rata payment to academics are diversions from our demands,” among others.
He said: “It has become conspicuously clear to the Union that Nigerian governments are not interested in the development of Nigerian public universities to global university best practice:
“What is obvious is the deliberate under-funding of the universities through the guise of no money, to subsequently introduce exorbitant school fees beyond the reach of the children of the masses, and ultimately privatize these universities to themselves.
“After suspending the 8-month-old strike due to a court order and interventions of well-meaning Nigerians, the government went so low as to withhold salaries of ASUU members and only paid pro-rata the October salary. The Union rejects the casualization of Nigerian academics.
“The Union assures Nigerians that it will never be a party to destroying the country. The Union will never support the introduction of exorbitant fees beyond the reach of the children of the Nigerian downtrodden; neither will it be a party to privatizing Nigerian public universities.”
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He added: “As a law-abiding union, ASUU deployed several diplomatic means to persuade the government to address the contentious issues in the public universities, but all fell on deaf ears. Thereafter, just like on other occasions, the Union was left with no choice but to declare a nationwide strike on the 14th of February 2022 to drive home its demands. For the avoidance of doubt, the issues that necessitated the strike are:
“While the union is struggling day and night to ensure that the government fulfils the agreement it willingly signed with the Union, the governments at State and Federal levels became politically obsessed with the establishment of public universities, even where it is evidently clear that the existing ones are grossly underfunded.
“More so, universities visitation panels, that statutorily afford Visitors of Universities (President/State governors) after every four years the opportunity to probe the management of the university operations in terms of finance, personnel, academic activities, and other matters were not conducted for over fifteen years: it took another ASUU strike in 2020 for the government to set up the visitation panels, but to date the white papers for the visitations are still being awaited.”
He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the government to, as a matter of urgency and national interest, resolve all outstanding issues with ASUU for the wellbeing of the Nigerian nation so that the country will take its rightful place in the globe, pointing out that “for the avoidance of doubts, we wish to state clearly that we shall continue to defend the University system and the Nigerian State through all legitimate means, we cannot be cowed by tyrants.”
Also speaking, the Bauchi Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Lawan Abubakar, accused the federal government of systematic attempts to destroy public universities in Nigeria by allowing strikes to linger for a long time.
Abubakar, who said that withholding salaries of its members and the pro rata payments are diversions by the government of the main issues, accused the government of provoking the last over seven months strike and allowing it to linger when they could have ended it within a short period of time by implementing agreements reached with the union.
“The Union resolved to go this way so that: we suspended the last strike having seen that it was the government that provoked the last strike in the first place because it was not necessary after the 2020 strike because we have an MOA and there were timelines for the implementation.
“And the government came up with what it came up with after eight months when it could have done the same thing in February 2022. We have seen a systematic attempt to destroy the Nigerian public university system, and we thought that we were the most informed stakeholders, and we said from ourselves that enough of the strike.
“And when government now continued with the provocation to the extent of paying the October pro rata salary, we went at the National Executive Council meeting and really affirmed to Nigerians what we will not join hands with these elements in government who want to create continues problems in the Nigerian public university system so that the private universities van thrive because as it is now, more than 95 percent of Nigerian students are still in public universities.”
The Zonal Coordinator said that: “The private universities are less than 5 percent and are enjoying while the public universities are running out of business, so they need to be protected by these elements in government because most of them have these private universities and most of them have seeming sinister motives to even privatize public universities; that is why some of them are situating federal universities in their villages so that they can quickly own and run them.”
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Noble Reporters Media reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set to embark on a one-day nationwide protest rally over the implementation by the Federal Government of a “no-work, no-pay” policy for lecturers in Nigeria.
Noble Reporters Media understands that ASUU Nationwide Protest will be organised at the branch level of the union across public university campuses nationwide and it will take place as a free-lecture day for all lecturers who are members.
NoRM reports that the chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos (UNILAG) branch, Dr. Dele Ashiru, confirmed this to Nigerian Tribune, on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
The chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos (UNILAG) branch said UNILAG-ASUU had fixed Tuesday, November 15, for its own rally.
Ashiru said the aim of the protest rally is simply to draw the attention of Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to ASUU’s strong dissatisfaction of the Federal Government’s attempt at casualisation of the academics in the country by using ‘no-work, no-pay policy’ to remunerate them.
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With the insistence of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) that the Federal Government must pay the withheld salaries of their members, the two unions may soon close ranks against the government to push through their demand.
As the new crisis brews, some stakeholders have called on the government to quickly resolve all issues with the unions to save the university system from imminent collapse.
Recall that ASUU held an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting last Tuesday over the payment of pro-rata October salaries to its members. Although it ended the meeting with a resolution not to embark on another strike as a result of the development, the union condemned what it described as attempt by the Federal Government to turn the academics into casual workers through the ‘pro-rata’ payment for 18 days.
The university lecturers had suspended their eight months strike on October 14 and only worked for 18 days last month. The Federal Government insisted on implementing the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy for the period the university teachers were away from their duty posts.
In a statement after the end of the NEC meeting, the ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, declared that the university teachers are intellectuals and casual workers.
He said the union suspended its eight-month strike on October 14, 2022 in obedience to the order of the National Industrial Court and in further consideration of the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Osodeke described the action of the union as a display of manifest trust in the judiciary and other institutions and organs of government to always put national interest above all other considerations.
“Unfortunately, the response of government towards ASUU’s demonstration of trust was the so-called ‘pro-rata’ payment for 18 days as the October 2022 salaries of academics, thereby portraying them as daily paid workers!
“This is not only an aberration but a contravention of all known rules of engagement in any contract of employment for academics the world over.”
CONUA, in its reaction to the development stated that since it did not declare the strike as such, lumping its members together with the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy must be a mistake.
A statement that was jointly issued by both the National President of CONUA, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu; National Secretary, Dr. Henry Oripeloye and the National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ernest Nwoke, stated categorically that CONUA was never on strike and this being the case, the policy of “No Work, No Pay” ought not apply to its members.
“CONUA members were only unable to perform their full duties because of the lock-out as the students were asked to vacate the universities and the system was shut down.
“Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8 states that ‘where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remuneration for the period of the lock-out and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of period of employment,” CONUA argued.
With the conflict far from being resolved, there are fears that both unions may collaborate to force the government re-think its position. As the government insists that it cannot meet the demands of the lecturers, The Guardian has gathered that budgetary allocation to the education sector has dropped by 49 per cent from 10.79 per cent to 5.39 per cent under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dairy Hills Limited, Kelvin Emmanuel, who disclosed this in an interview with The Guardian, yesterday, explained that while Nigeria’s budgets over the last seven years have risen by 384 per cent from N4.45 trillion to N17.13 trillion, the allocation to education has been on downward slide.
“What is interesting to note is that between 2015 and 2022, the size of Nigeria’s budget has risen by 384 per cent from N4.45 trillion to N17.13 trillion, but the budget allocation to education under President Buhari (right from the year he took over) has dropped by 49 per cent from 10.79 per cent to 5.39 per cent. This is a sharp decline in the progress Nigeria was making towards clinching the UNESCO standard of 15-20 per cent ratio of the education budget to public expenditure globally,” he said.
Emmanuel argued that it does appear that the Buhari administration has a gross misunderstanding of the critical roles education plays in the development of nations.
“Education is the catalyst for building the human resource on which nations industrialise. An investment in education is a non-kinetic security strategy to prevent unemployment that leads to insecurity. The refusal of the Federal Government to pay arrears from March through to September, as well as their payment of half salary in October, is a statement of intent that shows the lack of regard the government has for education in Nigeria.”
He also lamented the refusal of the Federal Government to raise the salaries of teachers, cede grounds on the integration of University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), raise the retirement age of lecturers from 65 to 70 as well as align with global best practices that allow lecturers to earn from visiting roles at other schools, saying these are proof that the government does not understand how education works.
The Dairy Hills chief urged the Federal Government to convert the two per cent education tax into endowment funding to be managed by universities while speeding up the process of granting autonomy to the councils of universities to appoint, discipline and promote their staff members.
“It is my view that the future of education requires that the government collapses the two per cent education tax generated from the TETFUND into a counterpart funding from the Federal Government into an endowment set up by the schools – managed by the private sector – and that will focus on scholarships, administration, research and development, infrastructure. The government has to be proactive in granting financial autonomy to schools, and designing the framework that will unlock private sector participation in the funding mechanism for institutions of higher learning in Nigeria.”
Former President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, who also intervened in the matter, submitted that the court process that the Federal Government initiated was threatening the resolution of the industrial dispute.
“The court process truncated the industrial negotiation that ought to lead to a mutually accepted destination. The ongoing crisis, if not checkmated on time, may lead to ASUU members going to work and refusing to work. What the court has done indirectly is deny ASUU members their right to withdraw their services. It is the right of workers to withdraw their services,” he explained.
Esele, who is also a former President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), wondered if the position the government has adopted is good for the future of the Nigerian students.
“In taking action, the government should critically examine where we are as a country. Is the current action good for the future of our children who were forced to stay at home for about eight months?” he asked.
He urged ASUU to embark on a critical analysis of its responses to the government’s actions, saying it must now move away from predictable strikes as the last resort.
“I think ASUU has been adopting the same strategy over the years. There is need for ASUU to rethink and re-strategise its responses. In my understanding, I think that ASUU has failed to take advantage of the social space, networking and contacts both within and outside of the government,” he added.
Esele stated that voting against a fresh strike by ASUU members was a wise decision, which showed that the union is moving away from seeing strikes as the only veritable option for resolving the industrial dispute.
On how the pro-rata payment impacts the general industrial harmony on campuses, especially the non-teaching unions, the President of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), Dr. Hassan Makolo, said that both NASU and SSANU were not directly affected.
He explained that the essence of the ‘no victimisation’ clause inserted in agreements after the resumption of work was to ensure the payment of the withheld salaries, saying both NASU and SSANU were working assiduously on that.
“The pro-rata payment is not our issue because when we returned, we were paid in full because we worked for a full month. Our concern now is the four months outstanding. Before now, when we go on strike, by the time we are calling off, we normally have an understanding with the government that there will not be any sort of victimisation or persecution. So, we expect that the government will reciprocate and pay the money,” he said.
To the NASU helmsman, the main preoccupation of the union now is to rejig Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to capture the peculiarities of workers in the academic space.
“The contestation against the IPPIS cuts across all the four unions on campus. So, if a committee is now set up to look at the peculiarities of the university system in terms of payment of salaries, other unions should be included in such a committee. The University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (U3PS) performed better than IPPIS when they were subjected to tests by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). So, common sense dictates that both NASU and SSANU ought to be represented in a committee that is set up to work on the possibilities of coming up with a payment system that will be acceptable to all the unions in the university community. Setting up a committee of that nature without NASU and SSANU will be an exercise in futility because, in the end, ASUU will be able to cover our peculiarities and people will feel aggrieved. The Joint Action Committee of both NASU and SSANU has written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Ministry of Finance to do the needful so that the current industrial harmony we are experiencing in the university community will not be truncated so soon,”
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But a former Director General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Segun Oshinowo, declared that the Federal Government was right in not paying for job not done by members of ASUU.
“The total context of the employment relationship is key here. The government is pushing the application of the ‘No work, No Pay’ law, which is difficult to fault. It would be a different matter completely if the employees were to be on sick leave or faced with a force Majeure,” he said.
Meanwhile, the senator representing Borno South District in the National Assembly, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has asked the Federal Government to resolve the prolonged labour dispute with ASUU to prevent collapse of the university system. Ndume made the appeal in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in an interview with journalists, yesterday.
“The ASUU issue is far from being over. Federal Government should resolve it now before the collapse of the university system. Those who are currently handling the negotiation can’t resolve the issue because their interests are not affected,” he said.
The lawmaker said that public officers or political office holders negotiating with ASUU should not have been allowed to continue the negotiation process since their children were not in the public universities in the country.
He said he decided to speak out on the matter to clear his conscience and for posterity sake, asking the government to act in the interest of the public. Ndume also asked the government to issue an executive order prohibiting public officials from sponsoring their children abroad or in private universities. He described the payment of pro-rata salary to varsity lecturers as unjust and inhuman.
According to him, the N1 trillion out of the N8 trillion budgeted as recurrent expenditure or overhead cost to public servants in the 2023 Appropriation Bill could have settled the salaries of the lecturers.
Ndume said there was no justification for government not to pay full salary to the lecturers, recalling that public servants were paid their salaries while at home during COVID-19.
“After all, we in the National Assembly don’t work all the days, yet we are paid full salaries,” he said. He urged the government to constitute a committee of eminent Nigerians to bring back ASUU to the table and resolve the lingering dispute, noting that neither the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige nor the National Assembly leadership could address the problem because “their interests are not affected.”
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Rights activist, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Federal Government to stop provoking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a dispute over wages.
Falana stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Tuesday.
According to him, the lecturers should be paid their full salaries for the months they were on strike.
Recall with Noble Reporters Media that ASUU members were on strike between February and October this year, crippling academic activities in public universities across Nigeria.
ASUU called off their eight-month strike on Oct. 14 after the National Industrial Court (NIC) ordered the lecturers to resume.
However, the Federal Government paid half-salaries for the month of Oct., angering ASUU members.
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The Federal Government had explained that the lecturers were paid based on the days they worked in the stated month.
But speaking on the development, Falana, a counsel to ASUU, said on Tuesday, “The doctrine of ‘no work, no pay’ is totally inapplicable to ASUU members.
“We are asking all Nigerians who mounted pressure on ASUU to call off the strike . . . all of us have a duty to prevail on the government to stop provoking the lecturers.”
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Vice-chancellor of the University of Jos, Tanko Ishaya, on Monday in Jos appealed to ASUU to be compassionate with students and resume lectures.
The national body of ASUU suspended its eight-month-old strike on October 14, following a court order directing union members to resume lectures and an intervention by the House of Representatives leadership.
Part of the agreement the union reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives was that 50 per cent of members’ eight months withheld salaries would be paid.
ASUU had asked its members across universities not to return to class, having been paid half salaries for October.
The University of Jos chapter declared on Friday its members would not return to class unless the last agreement reached was adhered to.
Mr Ishaya told journalists that the lecturers needed to return to class to prevent university education from collapsing.
“ASUU should please be considerate and compassionate with students and parents and return to the classroom. I appeal that it allows academic activities to go on while further negotiations with the government on payment of withheld salaries continue,” stated the VC. “We have asked these students to resume. It will be traumatic to ask them to return home again, having spent eight months at home already.”
Mr Ishaya noted that ASUU’s struggles were for improving education and appealed to the federal government to address its demands and stop treating university lecturers like other civil servants.
He decried the remuneration and condition of service of lecturers in Nigerian universities as poor compared with their counterparts in other climes.
“I am not in support of strike, but I’m appealing to the federal government to treat university workers differently when it comes to the implementation of the no-work-no-pay policy,” explained Mr Ishaya. “The role of an academic is not only teaching but there is also research and community service, and as one advances on the job, we also play administrative roles.”
He added, “So, I am appealing to the federal government to understand that the academic environment is peculiar. It is not like normal civil service.”
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Nnamani, who reacted to his expulsion in a letter addressed to the PDP NWC through his lawyer, Olusegun O. Jolaawo (SAN), insisted that the party leadership lacks the power to…
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has ended its National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting held in the Federal Capital Territory on Monday.
Recall with Noble Reporters Media that following the half October salaries paid to members of ASUU by the federal government, the university lecturers had met to decide whether to embark on another industrial action or not.
Details of the parley, which ended Monday night, are still sketchy as the president of the union, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke is yet to disclose the outcome.
A member of the NEC, however, confided in a DAILY POST correspondent that the union has resolved to give the FG more time.
According to him, the union decided to give the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at least two weeks to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue of ‘No Work, No Pay policy.’
“We are considering students who have already returned to the campuses. We resolved to give them more time to do the needful. I believe ASUU President should tell you more”, he added.
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Mohammed said: ”I am, therefore, happy to announce that we are currently working with the UNWTO and some other private sector players to establish a tourism academy in Nigeria.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has condemned the deductions from the October salaries of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members.
The body urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and the acting Accountant General, Sylva Okolieaboh to reverse the deductions.
SERAP said industrial actions are protected under the Nigerian Constitution, ILO conventions, and human rights treaties to which the country is a state party.
The letter threatened to take appropriate legal actions to compel the Buhari government to comply with its requests in the interest of the public.
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Bature said: “In the same vein, the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms for Kogi State only has been extended till Monday, February 13.”
Less than one month after the Academic Staff Union of Staff Universities, ASUU, suspended its 8-month industrial action, the union and the Federal Government are back on a warpath.
Already, the National Executive Council of the ASUU is set to meet on Monday (tomorrow) to decide whether to embark on another strike or not, Noble Reporters Media gathered.
The meeting, which is expected to be held at the University of Abuja campus, comes on the heels of the October salary cut received by members of the union, weeks after suspending the prolonged industrial action.
Recall with Noble Reporters Media that ASUU had on February 14, 2023, shut down both State and Federal government-owned universities over previous agreements yet to be implemented by the government.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, after what he described as “failed negotiations” dragged the striking lecturers before the National Industrial Court.
The court, on September 21, ordered ASUU to call off the strike and resume duty with immediate effect.
ASUU had swiftly appealed the judgement but the Appeal Court also handed down a similar order, asking the striking lecturers to resume academic activities as declared in the earlier judgement.
The strike was finally suspended on October 14, 2022.
During the strike, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government vowed to sustain its No work, No-pay policy in a bid to force the union back to class.
But following the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, it was reported that the FG had agreed to set the policy aside and pay the arrears.
But earlier in the week, lecturers were paid half salaries for October, a development that may lead to another industrial crisis between the FG and the union.
Recall that the University of Jos (UNIJOS) chapter of ASUU had on Friday commenced a fresh ‘strike’ to protest the half salaries paid to its members for the month of October.
A member of the NEC, who spoke to DAILY POST on the condition of anonymity, said nothing would stop the union from embarking on another strike, stressing that their earlier agreement had been breached.
He said, “We are meeting on Monday to decide on the Federal Government’s move. I don’t think there will be anything that can stop the union from going on fresh strike. Agreement is agreement”.
When contacted by DAILY POST, the ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke confirmed the NEC meeting but refused to reveal the date.
Asked if the union was planning to embark on another strike, Professor Osodeke simply said, “we have procedures, we will meet soon and whatever is the outcome, we will let you know”.
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The Kwara State Government has said it will provide free transportation to all interested students of tertiary institutions in the Northern part of the country following the resumption for academic activities.
Kwara Government made the pledge after the Academic Staff Union of Universities suspended its eight months industrial action.
The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Dr Alabi Abolore, disclosed this at a meeting in Ilorin on Monday.
A statement signed by a Press Secretary in the ministry, Mansurat Amuda-kannike, made available on Tuesday to the press, said, “The Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led Administration is extending the dividends of democracy to Kwara State Students in tertiary institutions across the country.
He explained that concerned students travelling to the North are expected to appear for a brief documentation on the same day of their departure within the premises of the Ministry of Tertiary Education, along Offa Road, GRA, Ilorin ,on Saturday, October 29, 2022 by 6:30am.
The commissioner disclosed further that the Ministry is also at the verge of concluding the bursary disbursement when online portal registration of would-be beneficiary is opened.
“On behalf of my Ministry, parents/guardians and great Nigerian students, we say a very big thank you, Your Excellency, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for yet another awesome magnanimity and show of sincerity in taking Kwara of our dream to the promised land”, Abolore added.
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According to a statement by the Director, Corporate Affairs of the university, Mr Kunle Akogun, in Ilorin, the decision followed the ratification of the amended academic calendar by the University Senate at its 291st meeting on Friday, October 21, 2022.
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The amended calendar indicated that final year and postgraduate students are expected back on campus on Monday, 24th October, 2022.
However, students of the faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, who were yet to complete their rain semester examinations before the commencement of the strike on February 14, 2022, are expected to resume on October 24th to conclude such examinations, the statement added.
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state have been directed by the institution to return to the hall of residence tomorrow, Wednesday as the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, ends its strike action.
This is in preparation for the commencement of lectures on Thursday, October 20, 2022.
In a statement issued by the school Registrar, Mrs Margaret Omosule, on Tuesday, disclosed the decision was reached after a special meeting of the University council held inside the campus.
It reads”, The students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, have been directed to return to Halls of Residence on Wednesday, 19th October 2022, while full academic activities will commence on Thursday, 20th October 2022 for the continuation of the 2021/2022 session.
“The decision was taken at a Special meeting of the University Senate, which was held in Oduduwa Hall on Tuesday, 18th October 2022.
“On behalf of the Council and Senate of the University, we wish our students an uninterrupted academic session and a safe trip from their respective locations”.
The strike, which commenced on Monday, February 14, 2022, led to a suspension of academic activities in Federal and State Universities across the nation.
A list showing the number of universities that have called off its strike since the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Friday, October 14, 2022 suspended its industrial action has been made public.
The strike, which commenced on Monday, February 14, 2022, led to a suspension of academic activities in Federal and State Universities across the nation.
ASUU, however, in a press statement released to announce the suspension of the strike encouraged its members to resume to work.
Here is a list of universities that have called off the strike and their resumption dates as compiled by Punch:
1. Olabisi Onabanjo University – October 17, 2022.
2. Bayero University Kano – October 24, 2022.
3. Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu-Alike – October 24, 2022.
4. University of Nigeria, Nsukka – October 22, 2022.
5. Federal University Owerri – October 17, 2022.
6. Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike – October 17, 2022.
7. Sule Lamido University, Karfin-Hausa – October 31, 2022.
8. University of Port Harcourt, Port-Harcourt – October 17, 2022.
9. Federal University Lafia, Nasarawa – October 30, 2022.
10. Federal University Dutsin-Ma – October 16, 2022
11. Federal University Lokoja – October 24, 2022.
12. Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko – October 17, 2022.
13. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso – October 17, 2022.
It all came to an end on Friday morning, when ASUU called-off the strike “conditionally”.
ASUU’s president, Emmanuel Osodeke, made it unequivocally clear that it was a temporary settlement.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the issues include funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, proliferation of public universities, visitation panels/release of white papers, university transparency and accountability solution (UTAS) as a broad spectrum software to stop illegality and provide for an alternative payment platform in the university system, renegotiation of the 2009 agreement. » See how lady naked herself in fight over her cheating boyfriend
“While appreciating the commendable efforts of the leadership of the house of representatives and other patriotic Nigerians who waded into the matter, NEC noted with regret that the issues in dispute are yet to be satisfactorily addressed,” Osodeke wrote in his memo.
What does that even mean?
“School resumes on Monday, October 17. But the issue is yet to be resolved.
“I sense the strike might kick off again soon,” Geoffrey Onuoha, who works with Nnamdi Azikiwe University tells DAILY POST. (Watch The Video)
How has he coped all through the strike with a no-work-no-pay stance taken by the federal government?
“It’s been hell,” Onuoha simply replies.
It has been difficult for the students too.
Precious Oguche, a 200-level student of the University of Ilorin, was taken unawares by the announcement.
Oguche says: “The whole strike thing started like a joke to me, because I’ve never experienced it.
“Got back home, just a day before the strike started, and I just went into work immediately. That’s, hustling for the supposed next semester, thinking it would be soon.
“Two months passed, strike still on, with their whole rollover bullshit, I was still working. Then with the look of things, I saw it as an opportunity to learn a tech skill. » Watch this video on how to make money 🤑💰 online without stress “So I went into Data Analytics. We all know, whatever has an advantage also has a disadvantage. If school was still in session, I would’ve been, by now, in my 300L first semester. So, the advantage is that I got the time to learn a skill, the disadvantage is the wasted time. 8 months!
“If you ask me, I ain’t prepared to go back to school. Reason being that the past 8 months has given me more exposure, I read books, I’ve a business planned out already. So resumption would alter all of this.” » Watch this video on how to make money 🤑💰 online without stress
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has claimed its demands have not been satisfactorily addressed, despite agreeing to call-off its eight-month strike.
ASUU’s National Executive Council (NEC) took the decision to suspend the industrial action during its overnight meeting that was rounded up in the early hours of Friday.
In a memo signed by the union’s president, Emmanuel Osodeke, they made it clear that some of its issues remain unresolved.
Osodeke also listed some of the sticking points in the negotiations with the National Assembly and the federal government.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the issues include funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, proliferation of public universities, visitation panels/release of white papers, university transparency and accountability solution (UTAS) as a broad spectrum software to stop illegality and provide for an alternative payment platform in the university system, renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
“While appreciating the commendable efforts of the leadership of the house of representatives and other patriotic Nigerians who waded into the matter, NEC noted with regret that the issues in dispute are yet to be satisfactorily addressed,” the memo read in part.
ASUU has, however, directed lecturers to resume with immediate effect.
The Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) has suspended its eight-month-old industrial action conditionally, a member of the union’s National Executive Committee told Channels TV early Friday.
The union decided to suspend the strike during a meeting of its leadership that started on Thursday night and lasted into the early hours of Friday.
The meeting was called by the union to determine its next line of action after its state branches met over the Court of Appeal ruling last week.
The Court of Appeal had ordered ASUU to suspend the strike before its appeal of the ruling ordering lecturers to resume work can be heard.
Members of the union’s National Executive Committee, which comprises the chairmen of the state chapters and members of the national executive, attended the meeting at the ASUU National Secretariat in Abuja.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14 this year.
Following the ruling by the Appeal Court, ordering the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to suspend its 8-month-old strike with immediate effect, the union would be meeting on Sunday (today).
Recall that the Appeal Court on Friday ordered the striking lecturers to obey the earlier judgement by the National Industrial Court which ruled that the union must suspend its prolonged industrial action while negotiations continue.
Recall with Noble Reporters Media that ASUU on February 14, this year, shut down public universities across the country while demanding for the full implementation of earlier agreements between it and the Federal Government.
But following fruitless efforts by the government and other stakeholders to reach a truce with the aggrieved lecturers, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government, on September 11, dragged ASUU to the National Industrial Court.
The court, on September 24, ordered the union to return to classroom while negotiation with the Federal Government continues.
But miffed by the ruling, ASUU headed to the appellate court to appeal the ruling.
However, the Appeal Court, while delivering a judgement on Friday, ruled that the union must obey the ruling of the lower court and call off the strike immediately pending the determination of the substantive suit.
ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, told Noble Reporters’ known Media on Friday while reacting to the ruling that the union would review the Appeal Court’s order before it would decide on the next line of action.
He said, “We have not received the ruling, when we get it, we will review it with our lawyer and then we can take the next step”.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had while reacting to the development on Friday, said labour controllers across the States of the federation are monitoring schools to ensure compliance with the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
“I have asked labour controllers in the states and the zones to go to the schools and see if the vice-chancellors have opened the gates.
“If they don’t, they will be charged for contempt,” he said while featuring on a Channels Television program.
Meanwhile, a member of the union who pleaded anonymity, told DAILY POST on Saturday that the National Executive Council of ASUU would be meeting today to review the Appeal Court judgement.
He said, “The Appeal Court ruling will be critically reviewed on Sunday and it is after that we will know the fate of Nigerian students who have been forced to stay at home for almost eight months due to the Federal Government’s negligence.
“Ngige and the Buhari government failed to understand that even if they force the union to resume work, they cannot force the lecturers to teach the Nigerian students whose future have been jeopardized”.
However, when contacted for confirmation, the ASUU president simply said, “we don’t advertise our meeting, it is private”.
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Seven months after the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, embarked on strike, the end is not in sight.
The industrial action, which the union usually reviewed on a monthly basis, is now indefinite, with both parties not ready to shift ground.
DAILY POST reports that the development has brought confusion into the education system with a set of students, whose admission processes were concluded last year, unable to resume, whereas another set of students sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, this year, 2022.
With the development, two sets of new students, 2021 and 2022 are now waiting for resumption of their academic journey in some of the universities.
According to a university worker, “as it stands now, we have two sets of students ready to resume academic session. Those admitted in 2021 were to resume after the second semester examination early this year, 2022, but their dreams were cut short by the strike.
“Now, another set of students sat for the UTME this year, 2022, waiting for admission processes.
“You know that universities have been trying hard to recover from the COVID-19 lockdown, during which schools were shut down, and now we have this prolonged ASUU strike. I really don’t know how this would be handled.”
ASUU has been on strike since February 2022 over the Federal Government’s inability to meet a 2009 agreement reached with the union.
In the agreement, ASUU is asking for funds for the revitalization of universities, and payment of backlog of salaries, among others.
Since the strike, representatives of the government and the academic body had met severally to negotiate the impasse, but such meetings ended in a deadlock.
Amid the breakdown of negotiations, the Federal Government had invoked the no-work-no-pay rule against ASUU members, which now appears to be the major clog in the wheel of dialogue between both parties.
Reacting to the development, a lecturer with the Department of Curriculum and Teaching of Calabar, UNICAL, said ASUU may not engage the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government in negotiations until the next dispensation.
The lecturer, Okey Samson, recounted how his colleagues have been suffering and some are dead due to the economic hardship caused by the lingering strike.
Speaking with DAILY POST, he said: “ASUU members won’t negotiate with any government representative again until a new government comes in. When a new government comes in place, ASUU will now start engaging the government.
“In my last branch congress, our chairman said those who can travel to the village should go and farm. My head of department is into fishery now in Calabar. To be honest with you, the hardship lecturers are facing is something else; my interest in this job has waned. You see a professor trekking, you can’t knock on the door of a professor and demand N500,000, but that is what people take to clubs here in Abuja.
“There should be hope in this system; look at the value of naira now. It is so high. For anything meaningful to be achieved, there must be a sacrifice. ASUU should be applauded. It’s only the earned academic allowances which are statutory and increments that have a direct bearing on members; every other thing does not. If you talk about revitalization funds, it’s in the interest of students.
“I teach some faculty courses, and I pity students due to where to sit, no public address system; you will have to shout. ASUU is not unreasonable; it’s fighting for the students.
“ASUU is ready to consider, the body had negotiated a 180 percent increment, but the federal government at some point was ready to pay 100 percent, but things changed. They will pay ASUU the accumulated earned allowance after the meeting, earmarking the meeting of 100 percent increment, paying backlog of salaries, paying at least 50 percent of earned academic arrears and money sunk into revitalization, which no member would benefit from, but we don’t know what changed that government is no longer interested.
“For the middle ground, they must pay that salary they have refused to pay; the government quoted international labour law, but what about human rights, which is fundamental?
“No refinery in Nigeria is working, but their workers have been receiving heavy salaries; their pay package is better than what they are paying ASUU. Government must pay the salaries owed ASUU members, implement the new salary scale of at least 100 percent increment, pay 50 percent of the old earned academic arrears, and do the revitalization as they can before universities open. If the government refuses, universities will not open, lecturers have died, and others will also die.”
The lecturer insisted that the Federal Government is not interested in meeting the demands of ASUU.
He stressed that the impasse would have been resolved if the government was interested in meeting the demands of ASUU.
“Government is not interested in ASUU’s demand because it has no direct bearing on them. When the aviation union went on strike, they resolved their issues because they don’t travel via road. When electricity workers shut down the power grid for one day, they resolve the problem because it directly affects them.
“Tell me one public office holder whose son or daughter is schooling in a federal or state university in Nigeria, the ones in Nigeria are in private universities. This government appears insensitive; they don’t care.
“Hold the president responsible, Ngige, Adamu Adamu are all answerable to him. During the birthday of Bishop Kukah, former President Goodluck Jonathan shared an experience where he set up a committee and it appeared things were not working and he stepped in and invited the minister of Finance and others, the strike that lasted for four months then was resolved that night. But, I don’t know if Buhari is reasoning well, even as ASUU is saying they are not ready to meet with anybody; let the president as a father step in and resolve the issue. My colleagues don’t have food; they don’t have Garri to sip.”
Speaking on the issue, ASUU branch Chairman in UNICAL, Edor Edor, said the body is open to negotiation with the Federal Government.
Edor said the academic body would call off whenever the government is ready to implement the report of Professor Briggs.
“We are open to negotiations with the Federal Government of Nigeria, and whenever the government deems it fit to invite ASUU for negotiation, we will attend the meeting and see how to resolve the lingering issues.
“It will be suspended as soon as the government implements the professor Briggs report,” he said.
The branch Chairman also stressed that the Buhari-led government should be held responsible for the lingering strike.
“The president, Minister of Labour and Employment, and the Minister of Education are all government officials representing the Nigerian people. The president was voted in by the Nigerian people and is holding the Nigerian people’s mandate.
“He appointed the Ministers of Labour and Employment and Education to assist in the discharge of the responsibility of governance, so we are holding the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria responsible, we are not personalizing this action.
“We can’t hold Ngige, Adamu Adamu responsible, but we are holding the Federal Government-led by Muhammadu Buhari responsible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said it agreed for a 23 percent increment in the salary of the university workers, a condition rejected by ASUU.
As a way of re-opening discussion, the government, on Tuesday, at a meeting with pro-chancellors and vice-chancellors of universities, constituted a 14-member committee, to among others, review its decision not to pay the striking lecturers for the period they have been at home and other contending issues.
It is left to be seen what would come out of the committee
The federal government has announced a 23.5 percent salary increase for lecturers, and a 35% increment for professors.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu made the announcement on Tuesday September 6, at a meeting with vice-chancellors and other stakeholders in the university system.
He further revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari warned against signing agreements that the federal government won’t be able to meet.
Adamu said;
”The Federal Government can only afford a 23.5% salary increase for all category of the workforce in Federal Universities, except for the professorial cadre which will enjoy a 35% upward review.
“Henceforth, allowances that pertain to ad-hoc duties of the academic and non-academic staff shall be paid as at when due by the Governing Councils of Universities to which such services are rendered and to the staff who perform them.
“That a sum of 150 billion Naira shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget as funds for the revitalization of Federal Universities, to be disbursed to the Institutions in the First Quarter of the year, and that a sum of 50 billion Naira shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget for the payment of outstanding areas of earned academic allowances, to be paid in the First Quarter of the year”.
The Federal Government says it has set up a tactical committee to review its ‘no work, no pay’ stance against striking members of the Academic Staff Union Of Universities.
This was disclosed by the Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, following the outcome of a meeting by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, with Pro-Chancellors, Chairmen of Councils as well as Vice Chancellors of universities.
The meeting was part of efforts to resolve the seven-month industrial action by lecturers of public universities.
He said the committee is to also look into issues of increase in the salaries of the university lecturers and come up with workable solutions.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has outlined fresh conditions the Nigerian government must take to end its six-month-long academic strike.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the government must exhibit transparency to end the ongoing strike.
“Government should tell us and Nigerians – the money that has been alleged to have been approved for revitalisation – how much is it and where is it lodged? When will it be released?” Osodeke said.
Osodeke added that the government must clearly state its position on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), a payroll system that ASUU wants as a replacement for the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS).
“Three, have they accepted the agreement we reached with their panel? They should come and tell us this, and not go to the press,” Osodeke added.
“Strike is a symptom of a problem. Any day you sort out that problem, you will not have strike.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared an indefinite strike.
This was confirmed in a statement signed by ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke.
He said NEC observed with regret that the union had experienced a lot of deceit at the highest level in the last five and half years, saying the federal government engaged ASUU in fruitless and unending negotiation without a display of utmost fidelity.
“In view of the foregoing, and following extensive deliberations on government’s response to the resolution of 14th February 2022, so far, NEC concluded that the demands of the union had not been satisfactorily addressed.
“Consequently, NEC resolved to transmute the roll-over strike to a comprehensive, total, and indefinite strike action beginning from 12.01am Monday 29th August 2022,” the statement read in part.
It added that: “NEC acknowledges with appreciation past and current efforts by eminent Nigerians and groups to mediate in the lingering crisis. Our union remains open to reasonable engagements as we have always done.”
ASUU began its ongoing strike on February 14, 2022, after the Federal Government refused to meet some of its demands.
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