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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.

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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.

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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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The Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige has claimed the federal government does not have the money to meet some of the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

ASUU embarked on a one-month warning strike on February, 14.

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The union explained that the decision was taken due to the federal government’s delay to implement their agreement, which include issues on salaries, the revitalisation fund for universities and the adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.

Speaking on Channels Television on Thursday night, Ngige pointed out that the N1.3trillion revitalisation fund was a promise made to ASUU by ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, when Nigeria’s finances were stable.

The Minister said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration informed ASUU of its inability to honour the previous revitalization fund agreement, but promised to explore other options to fund universities.

Ngige said: “The N1.3trillion you are talking about was promised by the (Goodluck) Jonathan government. Oil was selling between $100 to $120 per barrel then and the revenue of the federation was rich.

“It was promised by that administration and they promised to kickstart the payment. They paid N200 billion which they borrowed from TETFund. They did not take it from the federation account. That payment spiralled even into 2016 — to our regime.

“A committee was set up with ASUU as members. Government said ‘we are going to drop N25billion for you to show you in good faith that we are not talking nonsense.’

“That one was dropped. Again, another money was paid last year because the committee couldn’t come up with anything that will generate funds.

“We don’t have it. The government didn’t say we are going to pay N1.1trillion that is remaining. They said we don’t have this money and under the principle of capacity and ability to pay, let us renegotiate it because TETFund is still there.

“Unless you want us to take money from TETFund and deceive you like it was done in that period.”

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The Federal Government on Wednesday in Abuja expressed the hope that the one-month warning strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on February 14, would soon be over.

ASUU called its members out on the warning strike to compel the Federal Government to address their demands, some of which had been lingering since 2009.

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Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, expressed the hope of truncation of the warning strike when he spoke with newsmen at the end of a conciliation meeting between the government and the union.

Ngige said the meeting agreed on many issues and a timeline was scheduled for the implementation of the agreements.

According to him, ASUU officials agreed to return to their members with offers made by the government and revert to him before the week runs out.

He noted that many of the items in the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA) had been dealt with exhaustively, while some were being addressed.

“We have only one or two areas that are new. One of the new areas is the renegotiation of the Conditions of Service, which is called the `2009 Agreement’.

“An agreement was reached in 2009 that their Conditions of Service would be reviewed every five years. It was done in 2014.

“We started one in which the former UNILAG Pro-Chancellor, Wale Babalakin (SAN), was chairing the committee.

“After Babalakin, Prof. Manzali was in charge and the committee came up with a draft document, proposed by the Federal Ministry of Education and ASUU.

“Today, Manzali’s committee has become defunct because many of the people in the committee are no longer pro-chancellors,” the minister explained.

Ngige said that a new team had been constituted to take a second look at that document.

“This is to make sure that some of the allowances are not against the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) fixed rates for wages and allowances.

“If you propose allowances that do not comply with NSIWC rates, the government will not be able to accept it.

“So, it is important that they do the right thing from the beginning so that whatever the committee presents can be approved by the Federal Executive Council,’’ he said.