ASUU UPDATE: Strike still on —ASUU •Academic activities commence at AAUA, ESUT •FUTO Senate sacks teaching staff

* THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),
on Monday, vowed to remain steadfast on the
struggle until the Federal Government fulfills all
necessary conditions to end the about five-
month-old strike.
Its president, Dr Nasir Isa Fagge, while briefing
newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, said ASUU would
not succumb to any political blackmail, but
continue to represent the interest of Nigerians at
all times.
He described the threat by the Supervising
Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, to sack
university lecturers as frivolous, saying the
victimisation of striking lecturers was against the
international law to which Nigeria is a signatory.
He accused the minister of aggravating the crisis
by misleading President Goodluck Jonathan and,
indeed, Nigerians on the position of the union for
the strike to be called off.
He said contrary to Wike’s allegation that ASUU
gave fresh demands, the union only replied the
Federal Government’s letter, dated November 6,
2013, suggesting that all issues agreed upon
during the meeting with President Jonathan be
put in a memorandum and signed by both parties
before the strike was suspended.
Fagge said in a letter to the president, the ASUU
stated clearly that its emergency National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting called to
consider the views of members on offers by
Jonathan could not take definite decision to call of
the strike, because of what he described as
“certain uncertainties.”
Fagge said the leadership of ASUU, while waiting
for the response from President Jonathan, was
surprised at “lies and mischief” coming from the
minister and agents of government, “all with the
intent of misleading the Nigerian public.”
According to Fagge, “since the issuance of the
union’s response to the said letter, the salvos that
have been coming out, allegedly from the
Minister of Education, makes one to wonder
whether the person that is charged with the
responsibility of superintending over the Nigeria’s
education system has the wherewithal to handle
a vital national assignment.”
Wike had, last week, issued an ultimatum for the
striking university lecturers to resume classes on
or before December 4 or be sacked.
But ASUU had insisted that unless the accord
struck with President Jonathan was properly
documented and the MoU signed by relevant
parties, the strike would not be called off.
Fagge said the union had no issue with the
directive by the Federal Government that gates
of universities be opened to students, but
stressed that the lecturers would not be there to
teach.
He further stressed that the demand was also in
reaction to announcements by the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius
Anyim, that the 2012 MoU, “a document
authorised by himself, was not binding on
government, since it was signed by a permanent
secretary and was, therefore, a mere promise
and a non-binding piece of paper.”
In the resolution signed by the Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mac John
Nwaobiala, on November 6, 2013, it was agreed
that N200 billion would be released as 2013
revitalisation fund for public universities, which
ASUU wants “deposited with the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed to the benefitting
universities within two weeks.”
According to the resolution, a total of N1.3 trillion
was to be released between 2013 and 2018, with
N200 billion for 2013; N220 billion for 2014; N220
billion for 2015; N220 billion for 2016; N220 billion
for 2017 and N220 billion for 2018.
ASUU decried the state of Nigerian universities
and the “deliberate lies and misinterpretation” of
true state of things by agents of government,
adding that the union would not be deterred from
fighting for improvement of the conditions of
Nigerian universities.
To clear the air on how branches voted on
whether to suspend the strike or not, Fagge said
“of the 52 branches of ASUU, 48, roughly 92 per
cent, advised conditional suspension of the strike,
that is suspending the strike only if certain
conditions are met, while four advised on
suspension of the strike before pursuing the
implementation of certain conditions.”
Insisting that the strike must continue if
government did not commit to resolutions
reached, Fagge said “we want to make it very
clear that we shall bow only to what we as
academics are convinced will serve the interest
of Nigeria and its people, no matter their ethnic,
religious or class origins. This is where we stand.
We shall not be cowed.”
He also dismissed allegation that the strike was
being hijacked by opposition parties to discredit
the President Gooluck Jonathan-led
administration.
He revealed that Nigeria lose about N60 billion
annually to Ghana, due to higher percentage of
Nigerian students that flooded the country.
He maintained that the agreement, if
implemented by the government, in the next five
years, Nigeria would have witnessed
unprecedented transformation of its university
education and would be competiting favourably
with the best universities in the world.
On the threat to sack lecturers, Fagge said what
government needed to do was to engage more
university teachers, saying there was already
acute shortage of teachers in the universities
across the country.
He said the government needed to recruitment
additional 23,000 lecturers on the basis of 50:50
ratio between the federal and state universities.
Academic activities commence at AAUA,
ESUT
Academic activities resumed at the Adekunle
Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), on
Monday, as some lecturers of the institution
complied with the directive by the management
of the school to commence lectures.
Although lectures have not started fully in all the
departments, a visit to the school campus
showed that lectures had started in some of the
departments of the university, with students in
classrooms.
It was observed that lectures were on in some of
the faculties including Arts and Education.
It was also gathered that timetables for lectures
for the second semester of the 2012/2013
academic session had been released by each of
the departments, to signal the commencement of
academic exercise.
Also meetings of the heads of departments in
each of the faculties were held to ensure proper
courses allocation among the lecturers.
The vice chancellor of the university, Professor
Femi Mimiko and principal officers of the
insitution went round the campus to monitor the
level of compliance to the directive.
Speaking after the monitoring exercise, Mimiko
expressed satisfaction, saying the development
showed that about 60 per cent of the academic
staff were back on campus.
“I am satisfied with the level of response that we
have received so far, viz-a-viz the directive that
management gave that lectures should resume
today.
“I have personally gone round and I also sent my
principal officers to go round the classrooms and
it was discovered that quite a number of classes
held.
“As we speak, lecturers are in the classrooms
teaching, yes the students are just coming back
to campus, that is not unexpected, but the good
thing there is, more than half of the total number
of lecturers have indicated their desire to teach
and they are all over the place teaching, I hope
and believe that from tomorrow, the situation will
improve,” he said.
Mimiko said it was a matter of individual choice if
a parent chose to listen to ASUU and keep his
child at home, adding that there was little or
nothing that could be done to that.
Also, students and lecturers of the Enugu State
University of Science and Technology (ESUT), on
Monday, returned to school, following a directive
by the school authorities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that
the authorities had directed them to resume
classes on December 2 and commence
preparations for the 2012/2013 second semester
examination.
NAN correspondent who monitored the situation
at the Enugu and Agbani campuses of the
university reported that the students were in their
various departments exchanging pleasantries and
checking the notice boards.
At the faculties of engineering and management
sciences in the Enugu campus, students in their
numbers were copying the second semester
examination timetables pasted on the notice
boards.
The lecturers, on the other hand, held a meeting
with the governing council of the university at the
Agbani campus on the resumption of work.
Addressing the lecturers, chairman of the council,
Chief Chilo Offiah, appealed to them to sheathe
their sword and return to classes in the interest of
the students.
Offiah thanked the lecturers for attending the
meeting and assured them that the council would
do all it could to ensure the improvement of their
welfare.
The executive members of the ESUT branch of
the ASUU did not, however, attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, it was a different situation at the
Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN), as only a few students and
lecturers were on campus.
NAN reported that the few lecturers were in their
various offices, while the non-academic staff
members were busy working.
Some of the lecturers who spoke with NAN on
conditions of anonymity said they were waiting
for directives from both the school authorities and
the ASUU branch.
FUTO Senate sacks teaching staff
For failure to return to classrooms, the Senate of
the Federal University of Technology Owerri
(FUTO) has sacked all academic staff on its
payroll with immediate effect.
The sack order was made known by the Public
Relations Officers (PRO) of the institution, Mr
Chike Ezenwa, while speaking with the Nigerian
Tribune in Owerri, through telephone.
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 Monday, December 2.
The senate council, he explained, had already
compiled the list of vacant positions in the school,
adding that who were willing to resume would be
adequately protected.
Meanwhile, the FUTO branch of ASUU has said
any attempt to break their ranks would be
strongly resisted by their members.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at
the end o their meeting held on Monday, and
signed by both the chairman and secretary, Dr
Ikenna Nwachukwu and Dr F.M. Eke respectively.
The 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
commited itself to implementing the ASUU-FGN
agreement.
UNILAG lecture rooms remain shut
Lecture rooms at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG) remained shut on Monday, despite the
expiration of the one-week ultimatum given by
some members of the ASUU branch of the
institution.
Lecturers at the institution, were, last week
Monday, served with an ultimatum to resume
work by a faction of the union.
Asked their likely next line of action if the
lecturers failed to resume work, Dr Micheal
Ogbeide, one of the leaders of the faction,
refused to divulge their intention.
However, in a telephone conversation with the
Nigerian Tribune, on Monday, Ogbeide said since
the Federal Government had made a new
decision as to when the striking lecturers were to
resume, they had no choice but to await
government’s next directive.
“Government owns the school, not us, so we
have to work with the decision of government.
“The decision of the owner (Federal Government)
supersedes that of any pressure groups in the
school. By now, schools are working their
calendars and adjusting them in preparation for
resumption, so one cannot just jump into the
class and begin to teach,” he said.
UNIJOS mgt, ASUU set for showdown
Authorities of the University of Jos (UNIJOS) have
directed all academic staff of the university to
commence work with immediate effect, while the
branch chairman of ASUU said the union will not
succumb to threat and intimidation.
The authorities of the university, in a circular
signed by the registrar/secretary to the council,
Mr Jilli Dandam, made available to Nigerian
Tribune in Jos, Plateau State, pointed out that all
academic staff of the university shall return to
their various departments, units and directorates
and commence work immediately.
It added that daily compliance register would be
kept by all heads of department for all academic
staff, while it further directed every head of
department to publish lecture time-table for all
academic programmes by today.
However, branch chairman of ASUU, Dr Jangkam
Wannang, said the union would not succumb to
threat to call off its strike, adding that conditions
to call off the strike were well spell out.
He said intimidation and harassment of any form
would not force the union to call off the strike.
“We will not succumb to threat, the strike is for
the improvement of the system. The threat and
intimidation by both the government and
governing council of a universities will rather
complicate the problem rather than addressing
it,” he said.
OAU students desert campus
Students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU),
Ile-Ife, on Monday, failed to resume for academic
activities, despite the directive of the
government.
A correspondent of NAN, who visited the
institution, reported that none of the students
were seen on campus for possible
commencement of academic activities as
directed by the government.
Mr Abiodun Olarenwaju, the Public Relations
Officer of the institution, confirmed to NAN that
not a single student was on campus “for any
reason whatsoever.”
He said the few lecturers on campus were around
“for reasons other than academic,” adding that
“you know our lecturers have not totally deserted
the campus like that, many of them still come
around to do one or two things in their offices, but
no teaching and learning activities.”
Gombe varsity lecturers fail to resume
Lecturers at the Gombe State University are yet
to resume classes, despite the directive to do so
by the government.
A NAN correspondent who visited the university
campus on Monday reported that while the non-
academic staff reported for work, offices of the
lecturers were still closed.
NAN observed that the students also did not turn
up for lectures as of the time of the visit.
When contacted on telephone, branch chairman
of ASUU, Mallam Umar Adamu, confirmed that
none of the lecturers of the university had
resumed work.
Adamu said the union would meet tomorrow, to
decide on what to do.
The premises of the university was, however,
calm as security operatives were seen keeping
vigilance at the main gate.
The academic staff of Federal University in
Kashere, also in Gombe State, did not, however,
join the strike.
UI students stay off campus
Students of University of Ibadan (UI), on Monday,
obeyed the directive of ASUU and stayed off
campus, against the order of the Federal
Goverment.
The UI branch of ASUU also lashed out at the
Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck
Jonathan, Dr Doyin Okupe, for calling the union
“enemy of the state.”
Members of the union at the institution, at a
congress, resolved not to sign any register and
were united in rejecting the directive of the
government.
In an interview, the branch chairman, Dr
Olusegun Ajiboye, said the union remained on
course at ensuring that government made funds
available to public universities.
Ajiboye said the union respected the office of the
president, but carpeted Dr Okupe and other
advisers werefor their attempts to ridicule the
office of the president through their unguarded
utterances.
Ajiboye, who lashed out at Okupe for describing
ASUU as enemy of state, asked him to separate
the roles of corrupt government officials, oil
thieves, vandals and cabals in government from
the patriotic struggle of ASUU.
“Historically, leaders have failed because of the
bad counsel of their advisers. Mr President needs
to be careful not to be derailed by people like
Okupe, who do not see corrupt politicians and
cabals as well as looters as enemies of state.
“Okupe does not see anything wrong in bad
roads, comatose health sector, pension fraud,
subsidy saga, aviation fraud, oil theft, as well as
enough problems for the masses by the
leadership,” he said.
The union appealed to the president to read the
letter sent to him in order to know that the union
was not out to disrespect him, but to give him
more credibility.