FG Claims They Have Met ASUU's Demand

THE presidency Tuesday said that the Federal Government has met with demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU and there was no need to maintain the strike, just as it stressed that the agreement was reached sequel to the last meeting held between Federal Government and ASUU.

According to the Presidency, the administration believes that with the agreement and the result of the votes across the campuses, ASUU has no reason for further sustenance of the strike, even as it called on the Union to comply with the call on them to resume work without further delay.

Federal University of Technology Owerri Sacks All Lecturers

The Senate of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) has sacked all academic staff on its payroll with immediate effect on December 2, 2013, Monday, for failure to return to classrooms.

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This has been confirmed by Mr. Chike Ezenwa, the Public Relations Officers (PRO) of the institution, in a telephone conversation with the Nigerian Tribune in Owerri.

According to him, the senate of the university had declared all the positions of academic staff in the institution, adding that they would be advertised starting from December 2, 2013, Monday.

The PRO further explained that the senate council had already compiled the list of vacant positions in the school, adding that who were willing to resume would be adequately protected.

As concerns resuming the teaching process, the following press release was issued at FUTO:

"The Senate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri at its 375th Extraordinary meeting held on Monday, December 2, 2013 considered the directive of the Federal Government on resumption of duty by Academic Staff in Federal Universities and decided that academic activities in the University should resume immediately for the conclusion of the 2012/2013 Rain Semester.

Consequently all students of the University are required to return to campus between Monday December 2, and Friday December 8, 2013 while Rain Semester Examinations commence on Monday December 9, 2013 and end on Saturday December 21, 2013.
Accordingly, all academic staff are required to proceed immediately to their respective Departments to sign in for resumption of duty not later than Wednesday December 4, 2013."

                                                         

Signed:

Orje Ishegh-Nor

Registrar/Secretary to the Senate.

However, the FUTO branch of ASUU said any attempt to break their ranks would be strongly resisted by their members. The Monday’s communiqué urged members to ignore the resumption notice by FUTO management, adding that the branch would not engage in any academic activities until the Federal Government committed itself to implementing the ASUU-FGN agreement.

ASUU strike: We shall consult on the deadline - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan literally disowned the seven-day ultimatum to striking university lecturers to return to work, yesterday, saying the Committee of Vice Chancellors (CVC) issued the deadline.

According to him, the supervising minister of education, Mr. Nyeson Wike, only made the ultimatum public.
The ultimatum, which began counting last Thursday, ends on Wednesday.

Jonathan, also, yesterday, described the ASUU prolonged strike as subversive. The industrial action, which started on July 1, enters the sixth month today.

“We didn’t give them ultimatum. It was the committee of Vice Chancellors that took that decision. The supervising minister of education only passed on the decision.  What ASUU is doing is no longer trade dispute but subversive action”, the president said.

Saying, however, that government will consult on the deadline to ASUU members, he said, “So that we will not be perceived to be insensitive, we will consult on the deadline”.

Jonathan spoke, yesterday, while responding to an appeal by a former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, that government should reconsider its ultimatum to the ASUU members to return to work or be sacked.

Alamieyeseigha made his plea at Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, during a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state caucus.

According to the President, “What ASUU is doing is no longer trade union. I have intervened in other labour issues before now, once I invite them they respond and after the meeting they take decision and call off the strike. Atimes we don’t even give them a long notice unlike in the case of ASUU that were given four days notice before the meeting.

As you are meeting to resolve trade disputes, you expect the trade unions to get their officials ready, what was expected having met with the highest authority in the land for long hours, was for ASUU to immediately issue statement within 12 or latest 24 hours to state their position whether they were accepting government’s offer or not. And if they are not accepting they state the reason why.

”But despite the fact that I had the longest meeting with ASUU in my political history, we did not start that meeting until around 2 p.m. and the meeting ended the next day in the early hours of the morning. As far as the government of Nigeria was concern all the critical people that should be in a meeting were there, so what else do they want? ”After that they didn’t meet until one week, despite the fact that you met with the highest authority. It was unfortunate one of them, Prof. Iyayi died.

”The way ASUU has conducted the matter shows they were extreme and when iyayi died they now said the strike was now indefinite, our children have been at home for over five months”. President Jonathan also thanked the Bayelsa people for their prayers and support while he fell ill in London. He emphasised the need for party faithful to be united, stressing that the key to political success was the unity of the people and that divided people bring about a lot of issues.

In his remarks, Governor Seriake Dickson commended Jonathan’s deep interest in the state caucus and making out time despite his tight schedule to be part of it, where issues affecting the party are discussed and solutions found.

Govt has done enough for ASUU – UNIJOS VC

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Jos, Prof. Hayard Mafuyai, yesterday, said the Federal Government has done enough and even shown commitment for ASUU to call-off the strike. The VC spoke while answering questions from journalists at the end of the year dinner and award night of UNIJOS 80-85 Alumni Group in Abuja. He said the challenges facing the education sector in the country over the decades cannot be corrected overnight, so ASUU should call-off the strike.

“We just met with the Supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, and we have been appealing to our colleagues and ASUU to do what we believe should be done, that is to call off the strike,” Mafuyai said. ”I think the Federal Government has done enough to move the education sector forward as the ills of many decades cannot be corrected overnight and we should listen to the mood of the nation to call-off the strike in the overall public interest”.

When he was asked about the security situation in Jos and how it has affected University of Jos, he blamed the media for poor reportage and how it is adversely affecting socio-economic development of the university and Plateau State.  

‘Threat won’t end strike’

In a related development, students affected by the ASUU strike say threat would not end the impasse. The National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Hassan Soweto, who spoke on the ultimatum to ASUU, said threat will only worsen the situation. “If the FG goes ahead with the threat, then ASUU, the trade union movement and civil society organisations should be expected to respond with nationwide mass protest and demonstrations,” Soweto said. Victor Samuel, a law student of Ekiti State University, also reacting, said: “With the assertion of the Federal Government, should it sound as if we rule by positivist theory?

This is just a barking from the government as it would make no appreciative effort but make the situation more critical.” Adeola Oluwatayo, a 300 level journalism student of LASU, said the threat won’t end the strike, but rather make the lecturers adamant. Emmanuel Eca, a final year student, University of Calabar saw the threat by government as an empty one because it has failed in it’s responsibility.

“The question to ponder over is why the FG has continued in reneging on its agreements? They could have averted the strike in the first place by keeping to the terms of the agreement. They should stop playing with our future.” Another student, Macaulay Adeleye, went political in his reaction when he said: “The threat by the Federal Government won’t materialize at the end of the day due to the fact that it is not all institutions that can embark on such a step and overwhelm the lecturers.”

Going by the threat, ASUU said it was evident that the Federal Government was not ready to implement the agreement it reached with the union. The treasurer of the union, Dr. Ademola Aremu, said government would only succeed in wasting the time of Nigerians and the youths in the country if it failed to perfect the agreement.

ASUU’s fresh demands, act of sabotage - Don

A Lecturer at the University of Calabar, Dr Edidiong Ebitu, has described the new demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as an act of sabotage of the education sector. Ebitu made the declaration on Friday in an interview in Uyo.

The teacher, who is a senior lecturer in the Department of Marketing in the university, said he was in support of the Federal Government’s directive that lecturers should resume classes. “The various branches of ASUU had already voted to resume classes. The over four-months strike has done enough damage to the system.
“The president had made reasonable concessions, so ASUU should resume for other things to fall in place,” he said.

However, reacting to Ebitu’s views, the Secretary of the University of Uyo Branch of ASUU, Dr Aniekan Brown, debunked the claim that ASUU was making fresh demands. “ASUU is not making fresh demands, ASUU is asking for the implementation of 2009 agreements. “If any ASUU member says ASUU is making fresh demands, I doubt if that person is an ASUU member, that person is not informed,” Brown said.
ASUU is demanding among other things, immediate payment of all outstanding salary arrears and allowances of members withheld during the strike.

The union is also demanding a written commitment from the president that N225 billion will be committed to funding universities annually for the next four years. The Federal Ministry of Education had on Nov. 28, directed the authorities of federal universities to re-open classes immediately and to treat lecturers who refused to resume work as having resigned. (NAN)

Boko Haram: University lecturer arrested, disowned by ASUU

Dr. Mohammed Nazeef Yusuf

Following the arrest of Dr. Mohammed Nazeef Yusuf, a lecturer at Kogi State University, Ayingba by the Department of State Service, DSS over alleged involvement with the Boko Haram sect, the university authority has dissociated the institution from the activities of the lecturer and the alleged plan to carry out terrorists attacks in the state.

Also, the Kogi State University Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities declared that the suspect was never an active member of the union.

ASUU Chairman in the university, Dr. Sylvester Ukwuteno said contrary to report from the other suspects that Dr Yusuf was a strong member of the organization, the suspect has never been an active member of ASUU.

According to him, “the only link between him (Dr. Nazeef Yusuf) and the association was because ASUU’s due is deducted at source from lecturers’ salaries. And he, like everyone else has his dues deducted to make him an automatic member. But he’s not a strong member as it has been widely claimed. I cannot remember the last time he attended any of our meetings”.

Also, the institution in a statement signed by the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Hassan Isah admitted that though the suspect, Dr. Mohammed Nazeef Yusuf who was recently paraded by Security agent is a lecturer in the institution the governing council and the management of the school do not know anything about him beyond his duty as a lecturer “The Governing council and the management therefore condemned and dissociated themselves from all criminality and terrorism in whatever shape or form, where ever and whenever it exist.”

The VC noted that it became imperative to respond to the situation as the alleged involvement of the lecturer has elicited a lot of enquiries from friends, well- wishers, students, stakeholders and sister institutions. “In view of the negative interpretation and implication for our hard-earned reputation, and the damaging impression on unsuspected members of the public, the institution dissociates itself from all criminal and criminal activities including those of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.”

He assured that security has been beefed up in the school with enough surveillance to curtail any attack from gunmen “In the meantime, the governing council and management of the institution have strengthened security and increase surveillance on campus with the view to stamp out all criminals and criminalities, including Boko Haram activities.

We wish to assure the general public, particularly all our students, their parents and guardians, that the campus is safe and there is no threat whatsoever to human lives and property. “Members of the university community are advised to go about their normal life as the university has adequate security measures to deal with all criminals and criminal activities on campus whenever and where ever they are detected”, he said.

Beg FG not ASUU - Fagge

DR Nasir Fagge, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has urged Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to honour the agreement it signed with the union.

Fagge told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone in Lagos that Nigerians should stop appealing to the union to call off its strike.

Fagge stressed that rather than prevailing on ASUU to call off the strike, Nigerians should look at its demands and see their relevance to national development.

``Why is it that when issues like this come up, Nigerians will start begging ASUU to call off strike in the interest of the children and the country in general, rather than prevailing on government. ``I want to state here that we have a lot of respect and appreciate the concern of all Nigerians who have prevailed on ASUU to reconsider its stand and call off the strike. ``But sincerely, I think if people really care about this country and want to move it forward, they should refocus their thinking to government and prevail on them to implement the agreement and then we can start from there.

``The National Assembly had in the time past appealed to us to bend over and we did in the interest of the country-- while negotiations lasted-- but look at what is happening now!`` he said.

The ASUU president noted that when the union embarked on strike in 2011 over the same demands, the same appeal came from concerned Nigerians, with the assurance that the matter would be looked into urgently and its demands met.

He said that because of the need to respect the views of these Nigerians and to keep the system going, the union called off the strike and that, unfortunately, nothing was done about it.

``We shall no longer be coerced into calling off the strike and returning to classes because the last time we had such a strike was in 2011-- when I was the Vice-President-- and two years after, we have embarked on another strike over the same issue.

``I think as a nation, there is need for us to try and do the right thing by way of extracting commitment from our leaders because we cannot continue this way.

``Our system is getting bad every day to the extent that when we go out with our certificates, it no longer commands the respect it ought to, and that is why we must do all we could to re-engineer the system.
``You know that if products from our universities continue to study with little or non-existent infrastructure in place, as it is obtained today, they will fail to deliver and the entire responsibility falls back on our shoulders, `` Fagge said.

According to him, ASUU is committed to deliver on its mandate in order to produce students who are well equipped and see them contribute positively to national development. He noted that it was on this premise that Nigerians must prevail on government to do the right thing once and for all. ``Everyone knows that our universities cannot compete, even with universities within Africa, let alone those in the larger world.
``Today, we witness brain drain from the system on the part of lecturers, thereby exporting values to other countries’ economy.

``We should ask ourselves why Nigerians before now did so well abroad in different fields of endeavour and these are products from the same system that currently produces graduates who are largely seen as unemployable. ``We must show commitment and be proactive in addressing the rot in our university system, so that at the end of the day, our products will be able to compete favourably with their counterparts in other climes, `` he said.

The ASUU boss then appealed to the Federal Government to implement the agreement in order for the country to move forward.

NAN reports that ASUU had on June 30, embarked on what it described as ``total, comprehensive and indefinite strike`` in public universities across the country.

The lecturers were agitating the non-implementation of some sections of an agreement they entered into with the Federal Government in 2009. (NAN)

FG should pay ASUU salary arrears – Labour

TUC President

The President of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Boboi Kaigama and the Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Chris Uyot,  on Monday,  called on the Federal Government to accede to the demand of striking university lecturers by paying their salary arrears from July to October, 2013.

Both Kaigama and Uyot, who spoke in different telephone interviews with our correspondent, said that the issue at stake was too serious for the government to endanger with a minor issue as  the withholding of the salaries of the striking lecturers.

Kaigama  said that the lecturers should have been paid their salaries as going on strike did not mean that they were no longer entitled to their salaries.

He explained that the union went on strike because the Federal Government failed to implement the 2009 agreement reached with the university lecturers. He added that it was not the lecturers’ fault for embarking on the strike, saying the story would have been different if it was ASUU that violated the terms of the agreement.

He said, “It is okay, they are supposed to be paid their salaries;  when one is on strike, it does not mean that he cannot be paid his or her salary. “They went on strike because of an agreement that was negotiated which the government has not been able to fulfill. The government should, pay them their salaries.  The situation would have been different if they were the ones that reneged on the agreement.”

On the issue of the insistence of the leadership of ASUU that the Federal Government must commence implementation of the fresh agreement with the union through the release of N100bn this year, he said that he did not see the government going back on the agreement.

He said that the TUC and the NLC would support ASUU to ensure the implementation of the last agreement as it was witnessed by him and the NLC President, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar.

“The NLC President Omar, and I are living witnesses to the final agreement that was reached between them and the government; we will support them based on what we witnessed, based on what they agreed with the government and the new implementation strategy.

“The  TUC and the NLC will back them to ensure that the implementation strategy is followed. An aspect will be implemented this year and the first quarter of next year,” he added. Kaigama said that while he wouldn’t speak for  ASUU, it was his conviction that they might have been waiting for an agreement to be signed before calling off the strike.

Speaking also, the Acting General Secretary of NLC, Uyot, said that the NLC was of the view that the Federal Government would not allow the issue of the outstanding salary arrears of ASUU members to disrupt its offer to the union.

Uyot said that it was unlikely that the Federal Government would allow such a “minor issue” to derail its discussions with the union considering the fact that both parties wanted the issue of the lingering strike to be resolved.

He stated also that while ASUU went on strike, the government couldn’t be exonerated from the industrial dispute having failed to implement the 2009 agreement reached with the university lecturers.

“Well, given the spirit of the discussions between ASUU and government officials led by President Goodluck Jonathan, the issue of non-payment of salaries, we do not think, is something the government might consider because the spirit was such that both parties particularly the government wanted resolved. “So, we don’t think that a minute issue would derail the offer that the government has made.

“In any case both parties were involved in the strike. The union signed an agreement with the government which the government did not implement, so government cannot say that it was not part of the problem,” he said.

ASUU may call off strike next week

President Jonathan and the ASUU chairman

Nigeria’s striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) rose from a two-day National Executive Council Meeting (NEC) on Saturday in Kano with a resolve to keep mum until it met with President Goodluck Jonathan.

President Jonathan is due home on Sunday night, after attending a summit in London with investors. A serious stomach pain forced the president to skip the Thursday opening of the meeting. ASUU’s meeting was held at an undisclosed venue, away from the ASUU secretariat, NAN reported.

However, a reliable source in the association who spoke on Saturday, in Kano, said: ‘’ASUU has decided to meet with President Jonathan before making whatever decision they took during the meeting public.’’
The source added that 60 per cent of the members wanted the strike called off while the remaining 40 per cent wanted it to continue.

The NEC meeting was billed to hold two weeks ago but was postponed following the death of a former ASUU President, Professor Festus Iyayi in a road accident in Lokoja. ASUU embarked on a national strike that has shut down all Nigeria’s government owned universities, since July.

The academics wanted government to implement an agreement reached in 2009, that would improve funding for infrastructure in the universities and welfare of the teachers.

ASUU strike tragedy: Prof Festus Iyayi, ex-ASUU boss dies in collision with Wada’s convoy

• Don loses life in bid to decide strike’s suspension 
• Jonathan, Mark, Labour, varsity teachers, others mourn

TRAGEDY struck the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Tuesday as its former President, Prof. Festus Iyayi, died in a motor accident in Kogi State. The Head of Department of Business Administration, University of Benin (UNIBEN), was said to have died in a crash involving the convoy of Kogi State Governor Idris Wada near Lokoja.

The ASUU-marked vehicle in which he was said to be travelling to Kano State for a national leadership meeting of the association over its four-month strike, along with three of his colleagues, was reportedly hit by a police escort vehicle attached to the governor’s convoy. This forced Iyayi’s vehicle to somersault three times.

The condition of Iyayi’s three other colleagues was said to be critical at press time yesterday. Iyayi had been part of ASUU’s negotiating team with the Federal Government over the former’s strike and they were said to be travelling to Kano in continuation of efforts to resolve the dispute.

He recently told The Guardian that ASUU would not be blackmailed into agreeing to suspend the strike until all their demands were met. His death yesterday threw ASUU and the University of Benin community into shock. Prof. Friday Okonofua of the University of Benin accused Wada of being responsible for his death.
“It is the governor of Kogi that killed him. He was killed by a reckless convoy. He killed one of our most distinguished academics who has won laurels all over the world. We would hold the governor of Kogi responsible for his death,” Okonofua said.

At the time of filing this report, it was learnt that an ambulance had been dispatched from Benin to Kogi State to convey Iyayi’s body to Benin. President Goodluck Jonathan described the death as a rude shock not only to the academic community, but to the entire country, given his immense contributions to the advancement of knowledge.

In a statement by his Spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan commiserated with the leadership and members of the ASUU on the tragic death. According to the statement, “President Jonathan also extends sincere condolences to Dr. Iyayi’s family as well as his colleagues, friends and associates across the country and beyond.

“The President joins them in mourning the renowned academic and award-winning writer who rose to national prominence in the 1980s with his courageous leadership of ASUU in its struggle for a better working environment for teachers and academics in the nation’s university system.

“He is particularly dismayed by the fact that Dr. Iyayi has sadly lost his life while going to contribute to efforts to finally resolve the current ASUU strike which has unfortunately disrupted academics in most of the nation’s universities for over four months.”

Senate President David Mark noted the giant strides of the university scholar which brought international fame and value to the nation. According to Mark: “This is one very painful death. Dr. Iyayi was among the university lecturers meeting with the Federal Government on how to end this strike. As usual, his contributions have been forthright and rewarding. That he died at this time when his contributions are most needed, is a huge setback.

“I remember his frank and honest contributions towards ending the strike and addressing the ills in the tertiary education in Nigeria when we met last week. His death is unfortunate. It is a huge loss to the nation.”
Labour leaders blamed his death on what they described as a “crisis of governance” in the country. The Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu, noted in a statement: “We received with heavy heart this afternoon the death of a comrade, Dr. Festus Iyayi, one-time President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) reportedly in a ghastly motor accident involving the convoy of the Governor of Kogi State.”

According to him, “Nigeria labour movement has indeed lost a tested and committed activist of decent work in the universities and Nigerian labour market in general.” He added that “the late Dr. Iyayi would be remembered for the honesty, and commitment as well as abundant energy he brought to the struggle of working men and women for improved working and living conditions.

“The death of Dr. Iyayi is a sobering and cruel reminder to the Federal Government to urgently put a permanent end to the persistent crisis of funding public education in general and university education in particular. Lecturers, including the late Festus, as well as students, should be on the campuses not on bad roads, if not for the recent avoidable crisis,” he said.

In a statement by its President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, the Campaign for Democracy said Iyayi was a dependable ally, a dogged fighter and an iconic figure who was ever loyal to common causes.
Activists, under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said Iyayi’s death was a loss to the human rights community and the nation at large.

In a statement, Executive Director, EERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Ojo, said Iyayi would be greatly remembered as a dogged fighter for the cause of humanity, and his love for education. He added that he was part of ERA/FoEN’s most dependable intellectual base in the struggle for eco-justice and protection of local livelihoods.

Others, who also mourned yesterday, were the National Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Chibuzo Asomugha; Chairman of the University of Lagos Chapter of ASUU, Oghenekaro Ogbinaka; Executive Director,

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy (CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa; President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Prof. Remi Raji-Oyelade;  the 2013 winner of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Tade Ipadeola and another author and organiser of Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa, Ogochukwu Promise.

Calls to the phone lines of ASUU President, Nasir Fagge, were unanswered at the time of this report. He also did not respond to the text message sent to him. Iyayi, whose strong Marxist views of freeing the suffering masses from exploitation from the ruling class, form the core of his artistic vision in the four novels he wrote – The Contract, Violence, Heroes and Awaiting Court Martial. He won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature for his classic novel, Heroes in 1988.

In his heyday as president of ASUU at the University of Benin, Iyayi had collision with then first female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams. This led to his arrest and detention for several months. It also kept him out of the university system for a few years before he returned to his post after the era of Alele-Williams.

Born in Ugbegun, Ishan, Edo State in 1947, he left Nigeria in 1968 to pursue higher education, and obtained a Master’s degree in Industrial Economics from Kiev Institute of Economics, in the former USSR, and then his Ph.D from the University of Bradford, England. He had since been a consistent critical voice in Nigeria’s socio-political affairs.