The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued another 14-day ultimatum to the federal government despite the expiration of the initial 21-day strike notice.
There are reports that the ultimatum is to resolve the lingering issues, namely: the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN /ASUU Agreement, payment of withheld salaries, release of revitalization fund, migrating Nigerian public universities from the IPPIS to UTAS and payment of EAA.
A statement issued by Professor Abdulkadir Muhammad, Coordinator, ASUU, Kano Zone, on Monday, urged the general public to note that, if the Federal Government fails to do the needful, it should be held responsible for any industrial unrest in Nigeria’s public universities.
The statement read,’’ Over the past four years, our public universities have been in a state of industrial disharmony, leading to two costly and avoidable strike actions. The nation had high hopes and expectations that the President Tinubu-led administration would swiftly resolve the contending issues that led to those strike actions. However, these hopes have been disappointingly dashed, resulting in seething discontent among our members whose patience has been overstretched.
‘’The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has made several concerted efforts to dialogue with government officials, including the President, with a view to addressing the outstanding issues in the agreement and the various memoranda signed between the Union and the Federal Government. Unfortunately, the Tinubu’s administration, like the Buhari’s, has been unyielding. The nonchalant attitude of the administration to our legitimate and reasonable demands compelled the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU, following wide consultations, to convene a meeting at the University of Ibadan from 17th to 18th August, 2024, where it exhaustively deliberated on the contending issues and resolved to give a 21-day ultimatum to the Federal Government of Nigeria to address them. This ultimatum was duly communicated to the government through the Minister of Education via a letter dated 20th August, 2024. For the avoidance of doubt, the issues in contentions are:
a. Conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, by reviewing and signing the Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021.
b. The release of three-and-a-half months withheld salaries that the federal government has been owing to our members since 2022.
c. Release of the unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
d. Release of outstanding third-party deductions, such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions.
e. Funding for the revitalization of public universities, partly captured in the 2023 national budget.
f. Non-payment of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), partly captured in the 2023 national budget.
g. Non-payment of promotion arrears to deserving academic staff, some as per back as 2016.
h. Non-implementation of the reports of visitation panels to federal universities.
i. Refusal to deploy the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) software as a replacement for IPPIS.
j. Proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments.
k. Non-implementation of the 25/35% wage award to state universities.
3. Three weeks after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum, the Federal Government has not demonstrated any genuine commitment to address the issues in contention. The failure of the FG to meet the monetary and non-monetary demands of the Union is brewing industrial disharmony in Nigeria’s public universities.
Also, the statement said the Federal Executive Council’s directive to remove all federal tertiary institutions from the IPPIS, an obnoxious and corruption-ridden payment platform, has been mischievously ignored without any repercussions.
Similarly, the EAA and revitalization funds, which were duly captured in the 2023 budget, are yet to be released to the beneficiary institutions, although the implementation of the 2023 budget has been extended to December 2024. It is worrisome that the Federal Government has kept making empty promises, exhibiting a non-committal attitude and deploying delay tactics, thus fanning the ambers of crisis in our public universities
‘’Paucity of funds has always been the alibi government uses to rationalize its failure to implement some of the agreed demands of our union. The government’s claim of insufficient funds cannot be substantiated based on the information available to ASUU. Sheer lack of political will, not paucity of funds, explains the government’s failure to address these demands.
‘’Two years ago, ASUU made concerted efforts — through notices, emissaries (involving religious and traditional rulers), and even warnings — to avoid strike action. Alas, all these were ignored. Consequently, ASUU had no option but to resume its strike suspended in 2020. We are exactly in a similar situation. However, the Tinubu’s administration has a golden opportunity to avoid the impending industrial crisis by resolving the contentious issues amicably.
‘’ASUU-Kano Zone urges all patriotic Nigerians to prevail on the government to faithfully implement the outstanding issues in our agreement and memoranda. It is our hope that addressing these issues will go a long way in repositioning Nigerian public universities for global competitiveness. It should be recalled that the year 2024 has been designated as the African Union Year of Education. Yet, the Nigerian ruling class has been paying lip services to public education, which they benefited from in their formative years. ‘’