Only Concrete Pacts, Court Can End Strike – ASUU Chairman

Only Concrete Pacts, Court Can End Strike - ASUU Chair

ASUU chairman, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke has said that only concrete pacts and court can end its strike.

According to The Nation, only two conditions will make striking teachers of public universities to return to the classrooms.

The terms, according to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, are “concrete agreements” with the Federal Government and an order by the National Industrial Court (NiC).

Osodeke, at a national town hall meeting on tertiary education in Abuja yesterday, also said that ASUU was still open for talks with the government on the issues that led to the strike which began on February 14.

Osodeke expressed dismay at government’s resort to litigation as a way of ending the work boycott by university teachers.

NiC will begin hearing the case today.

The ASUU President warned that the court action by the government was not in the interest of students, their parents, and the nation.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, advised both parties to return to the negotiation table and to make concessions in the interest of students.

He said that ASUU) was right in its demands but warned that any government that could release all the funds needed to revitalise the nation’s universities would crumble.

At the Abuja town hall meeting tagged “The Locked Gates of our Citadels: A National Emergency,” the ASUU President said the union had given the government “minimum conditions”, especially on the issues of revitilisation and earned allowances of its members.

Osodeke regretted that ASUU had yet to hear from the government before the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, dragged the union to the NiC last week.

His words: “On all these issues, we have given the government a minimum that we can accept, but they have not responded on the issue of revitilisation, on the issue of earned allowance and on issues that we have all discussed.

”We negotiated and agreed that they should sign and this is very simple, not more than one day.

”On UTASU (university Transparency and Accountability Solution) and IPPIS(Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System), we say release the report of the test you did and let’s look at the one who came first and take it as we agreed.

”So, we have given them the minimum we want and we have to come down and they can do it in one day if there is a will

“If the government loves this country, these children and their parents, then they should come to the table and let us resolve these issues in one day.

“Just as we did in 2014, they should come and ensure that we do that, we can even have the meeting in the open so that Nigerians will see what we are discussing.”

Osodeke, who expressed sadness over the lingering strike, said that suing the union was not an option as it would further worsen the case of students.

He said that if the court forces lecturers to return to the classrooms, it won’t force them to teach with open minds.

Osodeke, however, commended the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors for stepping in to resolve the issues

He called on parents and students to appeal to the government to do the needful so that the strike would end once and for all rather than attacking the union.

ASUU knocks COPSON

Also yesterday, ASUU advised the Committee of Pro-chancellors of State-Owned Universities in Nigeria (COPSON) to stop playing to the gallery.

It said COPSON should learn from their counterparts in federal universities who are impressing the government to do the needful for public universities.

This is contained in a statement by the Convener, ASUU Rapid Response, Prof. Ade Adejumo, entitled: “COPSON: Stoking the blaze of discord.”

The union said that no amount of threats would make it stop fighting for quality education and the welfare of its members.

The reaction by ASUU followed a communique issued at the end of the meeting of COPSON where it said the government should enforce the “No-work, no-pay” rule and that the centrally agreed negotiations would not be binding on them.

ASUU said: “The latest assault on the university system in Nigeria is captured by the communique released by the committee of pro-chancellors of state universities.

“The ‘ fatuwah’ declared on the principle of collective bargaining by a duly registered union like ASUU for its members is quite worrisome.

“If we may ask, what is the function of a union if not to see to the welfare of its members?

“Why is COPSON fixated on the curious idea that centrally negotiated salaries by ASUU with the government will not be binding on them when they have always been represented in such negotiations?

“Why have they not insisted that policies and directives of central regulatory bodies like JAMB, NUC, and NYSC are not binding on them? Why is COPSON behaving like Chichidudu of Ayi Kwei Armah’s tale?.”

Some of the contentious issues that led to the ongoing ASUU strike include the non-release of revitalisation fund, non-payment of earned allowance (or earned academic allowance), renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement, and the release of the White Paper for the visitation panel.

Others are the non-payment of minimum wage arrears and the inconsistency occasioned by the use of t IPPIS.

Students block expressway, travellers stranded

Thousands of travellers and motorists were stranded for hours yesterday in Osun-State as students mounted barricades on the Gbongan/Ibadan Expressway to protest the lingering strike.

The students, who chanted solidarity songs, said their action was to let the Federal Government know about their plight.

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Vice-President (External Affairs), Afeez Akinteye, said that students would continue to occupy major expressways in the state until the strike was called off.

Akinteye added: ”We are bothered about the development, we want to go back to the classroom, Federal Government should look for ways to end the indefinite strike. We want to go back to the classroom.

”As we speak, the strike is having serious effects on us and we are not happy about it.

“This is just a preamble because we are taking the protest gradually until the strike is called off. We started the protest in Sango-Ota, then to the toll gate in Ibadan and today we are in Gbongan.

“This is just a warning, We are tired of staying at home and we want an urgent solution to the strike.”

Gbongan Unit Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) , Umaru Bamaiyi, said the protest took place in front of Ayedaade Local Government Secretariat, thereby making it difficult for motorists from Ibadan to get to Ile-Ife and vice versa.

He said that only those going to Osogbo managed to pass through.

In Sokoto, students, under the aegis of the Students’ Leaders Forum, said there was no justification for the prolonged strike.

The forum, therefore, urged the state university chapter of ASUU to, in the best interest of the state and students, withdraw from the strike.

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Eyo Nse is a creative writer, blogger and a software engineer.He is a simple individual who loves to see others succeed in life.Mr Wisdytech as he is popularly known - started blogging in the early 2000's.