Osodeke said: “Given the government`s flagrant and deliberate failure to honour the agreement it voluntarily signed with the Union, it is becoming clear that industrial harmony in our institutions is gradually being destroyed. Now that`s enough. Asuu is fed up with the Nigerian federal government`s deceptive escapades. He said that “the union had to call a strike because the federal government has traditionally not respected the agreements,” the last of which took place last month, in October. According to him, it was fundamental for the government to adopt the subsidy system in budgeting and give universities what they want. Once this is done, universities would be managed within the framework of the concept of autonomy or the strength of their balance sheets. However, Osodeke complained that seven months after the mou was signed, the federal government had only addressed issues of wage shortages and visiting committees at federal universities. “Today, while we were holding our zone meeting, a speaker came to us to complain that he hadn`t received his salary for 10 months. It is still a miracle for us that the federal government decided not to use UTAS, even though it underwent all kinds of tests and climbed through it. To end disruptions to the academic calendar at universities, a source at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment told the Guardian that The Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had set in motion a mechanism to call for a meeting between the federal ministries of Finance, Education and the Wages Commission, of income and wages in the week. Regarding the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, Finance Minister Hajia Zainab Ahmed said the government was waiting for the report from the Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency before moving on to the next step, adding: “To date, the ministry has not received any notification of planned trade union action by asuu.
But that will not be a problem, since the minister is the arbiter in disputes. It is for all parties when there is a dispute. Its duty is to ensure that problems are resolved amicably, with the sole purpose of ensuring industrial harmony in the country. When ASUU notifies the ministry, we will find out where the problem lies and resolve it. We have heard about the ASUU through the media, but we have not heard anything from other parties such as the federal ministries of Finance, Education and the Wages, Salaries, Revenues and Wages Commission. The department is therefore fully prepared to listen to all parties when they come to the negotiating table. State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education Sonny Echono said on Thursday that most of the agreements reached with the university academic staff union were under pressure. Ahmed also said it would be necessary to review the current agreement, which was signed in 2009. In their view, the government is under financial constraints and will therefore not be able to meet the financial commitment of the agreement.
The statement was titled “Strike: Gbajabiamila mediates for ceasefire between FG, ASUU. as the parties agree on four crucial issues” was issued by the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The agreement was reached on Thursday after a meeting between representatives of the ASUU led by its President Emmanuel Sodeke and government officials led by Minister of Finance and National Planning Zainab Ahmed and Minister of State for Education Emeka Nwajiuba. After the threat of a strike by the university union due to the federal government`s inability to implement part of the agreement reached by the two parties, Gbajabiamila had called for a meeting between the finance and education ministers and the ASUU leadership. Onyebinama said the consequence of the federal government`s refusal to implement the 2009 agreement is that the union has decided to go on strike indefinitely at any time, adding that once it starts, it will not stop until all agreements are respected. Despite huge investments by the government and international organizations in the water sector, water scarcity has become an eternal nightmare for the people of Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. This report ignores residents` lives and experiences in providing clean, safe drinking and affordable water in the context of rising COVID-19 cases in the state. “The generosity of asuu that led to various Memorandums of Understanding and MoAs resulting from the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement was rejected by the federal government. While criticizing the ASUU leadership`s claims that the application of the IPPIS is a violation of university autonomy, he noted that almost all state governments have paid professors at their universities through their payment system.
At the meeting, Osodeke said the union had given the federal government several opportunities to abide by the 2009 agreement and other signed agreements. The timelines of the union`s past trade union actions are listed as follows: 1999: After the end of the military era in 1999, Nigerians introduced democracy and a government that promised to be people-centred. But it didn`t take long for Nigerian students to experience a disruption in their academic activities. A few months after the Obasanjo-Atiku government was sworn in, the ASUU launched a nationwide strike that lasted five months. He said: “We consider that the whole debate is not necessary because the issues at stake are in no way ambiguous. What the teachers` union is demanding from the government is that it keep its own promises from 2009 for better funding of the university system and teachers` working conditions. Although the government has now developed a way to strategically reject the 2009 agreement signed between its representatives and the ASUU, it is worth remembering that the government is an institution and not a person. He said: “NASU does not accept any other payment system that has not been developed by us. We gave the government the advantage of the doubt at the beginning. We told the government that our members agreed to be paid with the IPPIS system.
But a few months after this experiment, it is clear that the system is not ready for the tasks of paid workers in universities. Some of our members received portions of their salaries for more than three months. The IPPIS brought more confusion than solution. We agreed with the government that if the IPPIS was to promote transparency and curb corruption in the system, we were prepared to accept it. IPPIS managers also gave us presentations and assured us that the system was ready. Obviously, this is not the right situation, as we found out later. 2013: Again, the government did not raise the retirement age for professors aged 65 to 70; the provision of funds for the revival of the higher education system; The 26% increase in budget allocations for the education sector has led, among other things, to another labour dispute. The strike began on 1 July 2013 and was cancelled on 17 December 2013. It took five months and 15 days. According to the ASUU president, the union decided to take drastic measures after the government was unable to implement the agreement. Disagreement over the government`s offer led to the revitalization fund being increased to N40b, while the allowances earned remained N30b.
The federal government has also assured that it will resolve the outstanding issues of the formation of visiting bodies for federal universities, which it has done in the meantime, and that it will set up a new renegotiation team to begin talks with ASUU on the 2009 agreement. .