The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the Federal Government is yet to address most of the demands it made during the strike it embarked upon in 2022.
ASUU had in October 2022, called off an eight-month strike after a series of negotiations with the Federal Government.
Part of the lecturers’ demands is the release of revitalization funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
In an interview with Channels TV on Thursday, April 6, ASUU president, Emmanuel Osodeke, said the government is yet to address most of its demands including the payment of salary backlogs.
“As far as this present government is concerned, once the strike is over, the issue is resolved unknown to them that a strike is a symptom of a problem. They have abandoned the problem. Since we called off the strike based on a court directive, not a single meeting has been called. Not a kobo has been paid,” he said
According to him, the union members are battling to meet up with the academic calendar in spite of the government’s posture.
“It is so unfortunate that they don’t have any regard for the Nigerian education system,” Osodeke added.
The ASUU chief also spoke about the recently approved N320.3 billion 2023 intervention for public tertiary institutions. He commended the government for the fund release and asked for redistribution of the fund to ensure 90% goes to the tertiary institutions.
“It (N320bn fund) is a good development, this is part of what we struggle for in 1994, it is our struggle, but there are issues we need to sort out,” Osodeke said.
When you check the allocation of about N1.2 billion to universities and others, you find out that the total for all the universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education come to just about N186 billion allocated out of about N320, leaving a balance of N132 billion that has not been accounted for. What are we using that N132 billion which is 41% of the total amount of money? Is it for bureaucracy or for what?
“This is what has been happening in TETFund and I think there is a need to examine what exactly is happening at TETFund. The idea of this TETFund when it was negotiated by ASUU was that this money will come and be distributed to the universities, not keeping 41% for whatever purpose.
“I think we need a redistribution of this fund to ensure that it accounts for 90% of what has been approved to go to universities, polytechnic and not kept as bureaucracy or whatever. You need to tell the public what TETFund is doing with the balance of N132 billion,” the ASUU chairman said.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned Nigerians against voting for “thieving politicians”.
The union also made public its official position concerning the Saturday presidential and National Assembly elections.
In a statement issued on Friday by its National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, the union declared that “it is time Nigerians reorganised the political and socio-economic equations of the country for the benefit of the generality of its people”.
The union urged eligible voters to scrutinize the various candidates before casting their votes, stressing that a stop must be put to a situation where the resources belonging to citizens are concentrated in the hands of a few manipulative political elites.
On the naira policy by the apex bank, ASUU lamented that business has become nightmarish to a majority of “hapless and helpless Nigerians”, stating that the policy was ill-conceived.
“On a daily basis, ordinary citizens are confronted with a gruesome sense of abandonment by the federal, state and local authorities whose primary responsibilities are the security and welfare of the citizens.
“Poverty, hunger, diseases and sundry existential challenges have become daily companions of the citizenry.
Meanwhile, political elites carry on as if they have lost every idea about organising and running a decent society for the benefit of all.
“The country, no doubt, is in dire need of focused leadership that will restore order and inject life into a nation desperately gasping for breath.
“This is why ASUU calls on Nigerians to carefully weigh the profiles and antecedents of those that have been thrown up by various political parties before casting their votes,” the statement added.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will be declaring a lecture-free day across tertiary institutions to express its concern over non-payment of complete salaries of lecturers who embarked on a strike in February, which was terminated in October.
Moyosore Ajao, chairman of ASUU in the University of Ilorin, who spoke TheCable, said the planned lecture-free day won’t be the same day for all institutions.
He said;
“It won’t be at the same time. Every branch will do their own on a different day. It’s just within the campus. It’s just making a statement.”
The National Executive Council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has commenced its meeting.
The meeting began by 12:40 pm on Monday afternoon, November 7, and the action to be taken over the half-salary paid to lecturers by the federal government will be discussed.
The lecturers had already accused the federal government of being insensitive over the salaries paid to them.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has said that the Academic Staff Union of Universities should be compensating students for the time wasted during the six-month strike, and not the Federal Government.
Punch reported that the Minister who said government will not concede to the union’s demand to pay lecturers their emoluments for the six months of no academic activities in his speech at the 47th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, further asked affected students to “take ASUU to court” to claim damages incurred over the strike period.
Adamu insisted that the federal government bears no liability to compensate millions of students grounded for six months over lost time.
He also said if the students are determined to get compensated, they should take ASUU to court.
The crisis between striking Nigerian university lecturers and the Federal Government has worsened, The PUNCH learnt.
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities told our correspondent accused the Federal Government of “sabotaging efforts to ensure standard education for Nigerian youths”.
The lecturers also expressed anger over comments made by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.
The PUNCH had reported that ASUU started its ongoing strike on February 14 after the Federal Government failed to meet some of its demands including, the release of revitalisation funds and earned allowances, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.
Buhari had in a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said, “truly, enough is enough for keeping students at home”.
On his part, Ngige in a statement on Wednesday accused the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, of misinformation, claiming that there was no Collective Bargaining Agreement between FG and ASUU awaiting signing by the President.
While appearing as a guest on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, Osodeke, lambasted Ngige for his “insulting” comments.
“What the Minister of Labour has done is a complete insult to the character of people like Professor Nimi Briggs, Senator Chris Adighije, Professor Olu Obafemi,” Osodeke
“The minister instead of looking for how to resolve the problem is busy abusing his colleagues, abusing even the Minister of Education,” he said.
Osodoke also accused the minister of spreading misinformation.
“It is so sad that we have gotten to a stage where our children are lamenting at home and the Minister of Labour is busy churning out fake information and misinforming the public, trying to undermine the integrity of ASUU,” the professor added.
Reacting to Buhari’s comment, the ASUU president said, “I do not understand why Mr President said that ‘enough is enough’, when we are not the one delaying the students at home.
“The Federal Government had sent its team to negotiate with us and we have finished. Instead of coming back to us to tell us the outcome of the meeting, we are hearing this.
“If you set up a committee to negotiate on your behalf, and the committee has finished and they have brought the information to you to sign and then you said enough is enough, what does this mean?” he asked.
The Prof. Nimi Briggs-led negotiation committee was set up by the Federal Government on June 7 to renegotiate the 2009 Agreement with ASUU and submit its report to the Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu in three months.
The Briggs-led committee is expected to review the draft proposed FGN/ASUU Agreement, liaise and consult with relevant stakeholders to finalise the position of the Federal Government on the issues in the draft proposed FGN/ASUU Renegotiated Agreement.
It is also to renegotiate in realistic and workable terms the 2009 Agreements with other University-Based Unions; negotiate and recommend any other issue the Committee deems relevant to reposition the NUC for global competitiveness; and submit proposed draft agreements within three months from the date of inauguration.
The committee is chaired by Brigs, Pro-Chancellor, Alex Ekweme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi.
Other members are Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Wukari, Arc. Lawrence Patrick Ngbale, who represents North East; Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Birnin Kebbi, Prof. Funmi Togunu-Bickersteth, representing South West and Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Lokoja, Senator Chris Adighije, representing South East.
Also on the team are Pro-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Olu Obafemi from North-Central; Pro-Chancellor, Kano State University of Science & Technology, Prof. Zubairu Iliyasu, representing North West; and Pro-Chancellor, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Mathew Seiyefa from South-South.
Church leaders have expressed disappointment over the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
They said the country’s future was now bleak with students roaming the streets aimlessly everyday.
The leaders then enjoined ASUU and other academic unions to immediately resolve the issues in the interest of the students and the future of the country.
The Fellowship of Leaders and Ministers of Bible-believing Churches, led by Pastor Abel Aiyedogbon, while speaking with newsmen in Ilorin on Monday, observed that the country may be in jeopardy if the youths were not properly trained and prepared for expected roles in the country.
He said, “As a body and stakeholders to the destinies of our children, we appeal to the parties concerned, especially the Federal Government to quickly resolve the ASUU crisis.”
He noted that the students involved were the future leaders of the nation and if they were not prepared for such roles as expected, the future of the country may be in jeopardy.
He added that “today is the womb of tomorrow, what Nigerians do with the nation today would determine how strong the country will be tomorrow”, adding that “the Nigeria of tomorrow is certainly going to be what the ruling class of today organises it to be.”
The church leaders said that the prolonged strike had shown insensitivity on part of the nation’s policy makers and all the stakeholders involved, adding that the plight of university students who have been at the receiving end over the years need to be considered.
The Presidency has queried the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, over the lingering strike.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, wondered why ASUU was holding the President by the neck over an agreement not signed by his government.
Shehu recalled that the agreement in contention was signed in 2009 by the then Federal Government.
Featuring on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today, Shehu said Buhari’s government cannot meet their demand 100 percent.
He disclosed that the Federal Government needs to pay attention to other sectors of the country.
According to Shehu, the military needs weapons to fight terrorists, hence government can’t pay all its attention on ASUU alone.
He said: “As for ASUU, the president has the right to appeal on behalf of Nigerians, this is six months or more of the ongoing strike.
“Is it right for anyone to insist on taking 100 percent of all of those grievances that they have? Don’t forget that what is the cause of this problem is a 2009 agreement with the then government that they have no capacity to deliver upon and have passed it from one government to another.
“So, we might ask the question, why is Buhari being held by the neck? What happened in the past? Why didn’t they strangle those past administrations on these matters? That’s our worries.
“The Federal Government has put a lot of substance on the table. Will the Federal Government yield to 100 percent of ASUU demands, I want say.
“There are also other sectors of the economy yearning for attention, the military need weapons, guns to fight terrorists. We have to look into other sectors of the economy.
“The Minister of State for Education has assured that we are about to turn the corner and all these issues are about to be resolved. We have reached this level in the past and my prayer is that it would soon end.
“They have family members and leaders within the community, so they should prevail on them to resume classes and those elements that have not being resolved can be talked over.”
This is coming when Buhari urged the academic body to consider the future of students and call off the lingering industrial action.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said their industrial action will end immediately if the federal government addresses their concerns.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday night.
Osodeke claimed an agreement had been reached with the government, but it has not been signed.
According to him, ASUU’s insistence on using their own generated payment platform, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS), is a key demand.
“As far as ASUU is concerned, the strike can end tomorrow.
“We have finished the negotiation. If the government calls us now to come and sign the agreement, we will be there tomorrow.
“Let the government tell us they have finished testing the UTAS and we have accepted it, then we will call off the strike.
“When will they sign the agreement? When will they accept UTAS? Those are the two questions we should ask the Nigerian government,” Osodeke said.
The Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project and other education rights groups, such as the Reform Education Nigeria and Education Rights Campaign, have knocked the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the prolonged shutdown of academic activities in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
The PUNCH reports that the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities entered its 140th day on Monday (today), while the strike declared by the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and other Allied Institutions, which began on March 25, 2022 also entered the 68th day today.
While the National Executive Council of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics is currently meeting in Jigawa State after calling off a two-week warning strike, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union just commenced a two-month strike.
In a statement made available to journalists on Sunday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, noted that the government’s failure to meet ASUU’s demands, implement the agreement it had with the union and satisfactorily resolve the issues, has kept poor Nigerian children at home while the children of the country’s politicians attend private schools.
Oluwadare said, “Inequalities in education have a rolling effect, leading to even more and continued inequalities in the future.
“Apart from being a right in itself, the right to education is also an enabling right. Education creates the voice through which rights can be claimed and protected, and without education, people lack the capacity to achieve valuable functioning as part of the living.
“If people have access to education, they can develop the skills, capacity and confidence to secure other rights. Education gives people the ability to access information detailing the range of rights that they hold together with the government’s obligations.”
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, faulted the silence of critical stakeholders on the academic shutdown.
Oluwatoyin said, “It is saddening that the government has continued to allow negotiations to linger with no concrete end in sight. The Presidency must, as a matter of urgency, take over the negotiations with the unions.”
Also, the co-Convener, Education Rights Campaign, Michael Lenin, said, “The blame for these strike actions that have grounded tertiary education must be placed at the door-step of the government.
“It is quite unprecedented that all the major unions in the tertiary education sector are all on strike; however, it shows the level of damage that the negligence of successive governments has done to the educational sector through chronic under-funding.”
Efforts to get the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who has described himself as the reconciliation minister between the Federal Government and the unions, proved abortive as calls and texts sent to his telephone number on Sunday remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the National President, ASUP, Dr. Anderson Ezeibe, noted that the union’s National Executive Council would commence its meeting on Tuesday.
“Our NEC is commencing meeting on Tuesday, if we are still not satisfied with the level of implementation of demands so far, a strike may be declared,” he said.
The National President, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, could not be immediately reached for comments on Sunday evening.
Similarly, the National President, Joint Action Committee of SSANU, NASU and NAAT, Muhammed Ibrahim, did not answer calls and texts sent to his line
With the high level of unemployment and underemployment, prolonged strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and its polytechnic counterpart, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), have raised concerns about the country’s rising dependency ratio, as majority of youths are becoming idle by the day.
The dependency ratio is a measure of the number of dependents aged zero to 14 and over the age of 65, compared with the total population aged 15 to 64. This demographic indicator gives insight into the number of people of non-working age, compared with the number of those of working age.
Indications emerged that the worsening situation has further mounted pressure on households’ disposable incomes as citizens, who desire to work, are currently excluded as a result of non-completion of academic degrees due to industrial actions and competition for scarcely available jobs.
Yearly, universities across the country churn out thousands of graduates. In 2020, most universities lost one academic year and have already lost one semester in the ongoing industrial action that started on February 14, 2022.
This is after majority of these graduates, especially from federal universities, spend close to seven-eight years for a four-year course and end up no longer meeting the age limit on employment by the private sector.
The Guardian gathered that with the ongoing strikes, many of the youths are not graduating as and when due to start fending for themselves or get quality jobs, thus, making the number of dependents rise, leaving many to rely on parents, guardians or friends for survival.
With fewer employment options, many youths during the strike period are forced into unwholesome engagements or get used as political thugs during electioneering season, among other negative vices. For those fortunate, they have relocated abroad.
For instance, a student who gained admission in 2018 in a private university has graduated leaving behind her colleague, whom they gained admission same year in one of the federal universities, still in 200-level.
Similarly, another student, already running his second degree (master’s) in a private university and gainfully employed in an oil and gas firm, has also left his cousin, in 300 level, who is not even sure when she’ll graduate, following incessant strikes by unions in the public varsity system.
The young man running his second degree, who gained admission at 17 years and graduated at age 22, has the chance to get married and support his parents with his monthly income, leaving the dependency ratio bracket.
The issue of dependency has been a huge burden for many parents these days, where they still have to cater for their children, who are supposed to be working and earning good salaries if the system were to be working perfectly.
The parents, while calling on government to address lingering industrial issues, lamented that their children, who gained admission at the age of 17 and 18 for a four-year course, are still in school at 26 years, while some graduated at 29 years with no job on ground, because they have passed some of the top organizations’ employment bracket of 24 to 26 years.
According to their expectations, they were supposed to have started contributing their financial quota to the family, rather than still spoon-feeding them or living under their roof.
A parent, Mrs. Cynthia Thompson, told The Guardian that she expected her son to have graduated at 24, but he is still in 300-level at 26, coupled with the long stay before he eventually gets enrolled for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.
According to her, he has missed a mouth-watering job in one of the big firms, which accepts young graduates not more than 24 years old. The graduate trainees, she said, will undergo six months training programme and be fully employed with a salary of no less than N300,000.
But to Thompson, only students from private universities or those who schooled overseas and are ready to work in Nigeria could meet up with the age bracket, adding that till his son graduates and gets a better job offer, he falls under the dependency ratio bracket.
Already, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Expenditure and Income Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the first half of 2021, said Nigerians spent N54 trillion on household consumption in six months. The figure, it stated, was higher than N48.22 trillion recorded in the first half of 2020.
Also, the report on household consumption expenditure rose to 25 per cent in 2021. The NBS, said the household consumption expenditure rose year-on-year (YoY) by 1,414 per cent points to 25.6 per cent in 2021 from -1.69 per cent in 2020.
Accordingly, the report stated that the overall, in 2021, real household final consumption expenditure inclined by 25.6 per cent from -1.69 per cent recorded in 2020.
Similarly, the fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 statistics report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled: ‘Labour Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report’, showed that the level of underemployment stood at 2.8 per cent.
The underemployed are graduates and skilled workers, who are willing to work but can’t find full employment. When considered by educational status, those reporting educational groups had the highest rate of underemployment with 30.9 per cent, followed by those with vocational/commercial groups at 28.5 per cent. Those with doctorate degrees as their highest qualifications reported 20.7 per cent during the reference period.
In the case of underemployment by age grouping, those aged between 55-64 recorded an underemployment rate of 25.7 per cent, the highest among the age groups. This was followed by those aged between 45-54 with 24.4 per cent, while those with the lowest underemployment rate were those aged between 15-24 with 19.8 per cent.
A combination of unemployment and underemployment rates show that those aged between 15-24 reported a combined rate of 73.2 per cent, showing a serious challenge for the age-group to secure full-time employment.
Looking at the unusual long term, impact on the economy vis-a-vis productivity and underemployment, a public affairs analyst, Jide Ojo, who bemoaned the system that has been uncaring for the future of the youths, said students in public institutions are at a personal loss already with the glut in the labour market.
He gave instances of the majority of graduates, who do not meet up with age requirements due to incessant strikes, but had to swear false affidavits to cut down their age.
He said tertiary institutions may be losing years and not producing graduates as at when due, stating that there are quite a lot of graduates that are unemployed and private universities continue to produce without let or hindrance and are meeting up with the age requirements.
Aside from strikes and lateness in graduation, he said the dependency ratio was high, because even when one graduates at 21 or 22, it is not a guarantee that he will get a job immediately and be able to stand on his own.
He described the situation whereby persons are working and still living under their parents abode as mutually exclusive because what they earn is paltry and not enough to sustain them.
According to him, the issue of a student that is supposed to have graduated and still depending on the parent for his or her survival is compounding the percentage of dependency ratio.
“A situation where you have a graduate working as security guard in a recruiting agency, maybe in a bank, earning N30,000 is not employment, but rather underemployment. The person did not go to school to learn to be a guard but for his degree to get him a white-collar job, where he’ll be able to earn decent pay,” he said.
Citing some of the social investment programmes by the present administration, for instance the N-Power, where workers are paid N30,000 for two years, he said that is no job as the work alone cannot sustain one let alone owning an apartment to stand alone.
He said many of the workers on the scheme are still largely dependent on their parents for survival. “The money can just be for their personal upkeep. It does not amount to the government claiming it gave them a job; that is underemployment.
“In as much as there is a high level of unemployment, you cannot but have a high dependency ratio because those that are competent to get employed and could not would have to be largely dependent on parents, guardians and even friends for their survival,” he said.
Paul Omoijiade, a lawyer and labour expert, said age ratio was a dilemma for youths as Nigeria needed to improve on its labour productivity, which has to do with standard of education, skills and experience gathered.
In developed countries, he said it is one’s ability to produce results that matters, “they don’t talk about age. They frown on discrimination on the basis of age. But here, they keep the youths and you tell them they are overage to be in the productivity of employment. The effects on the economy would be much.”
On dependency ratio, he said: “It disturbs the cash flow because the parent must have envisaged that by age 60 he will be retiring and must have trained all his children and the pressure will not be much but discovers it will never be.”
Chairman, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Lagos State Council, Gbenga Ekundayo, said Nigeria is producing an army of disgruntled, unsatisfied and unemployable youths that it cannot fix or cater for.
He said as some employers are asking for young graduates they can easily mould, while by the time a child is graduating at 27 or 29 years, when others are coming out with a second degree even at 24 years, how will they be able to compete in the market?
He said even if they want to venture into entrepreneurship or being self-employed, the issue of electricity would be their major challenge.
According to him, employers are faced with the challenge of retraining people who are fully formed or left school for long before being engaged.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities declared a comprehensive and total strike four months ago in order to compel the Federal Government to act on a variety of issues that have lingered between both parties for years.
Since the strike was declared in February, there has been little progress in the deliberations.
Instead, meetings continue to end in deadlocks; banquets, fanfare, party conventions, primary elections, and political campaigns are the order of the day, while the crumbling education sector continues to receive sparse attention.
The PUNCH spoke to some of these students who expressed their frustration with the Federal Government’s lackadaisical attitude to their plight.
A final year student of Bayero University, Kano, Zainab Olayinka, revealed that she has “locked away the student” in herself in order to avoid feeling depressed.
“I have been coping by not letting the thought of it cross my mind too often. It is like I have just locked away the student in me just so I don’t slip into depression,” she said.
Zainab has also taken to interning in an organisation that keeps her connected to her school studies. Additionally, she has ventured into ghostwriting in order to keep herself busy.
“The strike keeps making you alter several life plans. While I know plans are not static, the strike mostly puts me in a bad place in terms of missing out on opportunities just because there is a particular requirement and it is connected with my academic certificate.
It makes you grow older, and then when you are finally out of school they tell you, you need certain years of experience after delaying so much. It is so unfair,” she said.
Chinedu Chisom Uzochukwu a 300 Level student of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said he has “not been coping” well with the protracted strike which has also left him drained.
“It’s been hell in a way,” he said. “I mean, aside from missing school life, it’s been draining. I don’t even know if I’ve been coping mentally.”
Like Zainab, Chinedu has also started his interning with a law firm after boredom got the best of him while staying at home.
Speaking on the effects of the strike as regards his future plans, Chinedu confessed that while the consequences are not pressing in the short term, he feels a diversion of his interests in education to entrepreneurship is imminent.
An anonymous respondent who is currently in their penultimate year at Bayero University, Kano, agonised over the fact that their school ID card projects that they should be graduating this year.
The student said, “The fact that this (graduation) is not happening reveals how this affects every youth in a public university in Nigeria.
“The delay affects our long term future plans. It makes us sit and watch those from private universities grow and become who they want without much delay while we are being held at the mercies of ASUU and the Federal Government.”
A 300 Level Law student of the University of Ilorin who simply identifies as Subomi, said the announcement of the strike in February came at first as a welcome development.
This is because the previous school session had been rushed due to a previous strike that lasted nine months in 2020.
However, Subomi said when the present strike began to cross the thresholds of its first couple of months, she started feeling “depressed and down”
Subomi who has now ventured into trading, also empathised with her friends who neither have jobs or other things to keep them occupied, as the strike might have a worse effect on them.
She noted how it was the previous 2020 strike that ultimately drove her to start a business which now occupies most of her time.
The law student said, “The first strike we had during the pandemic affected me a lot. I was reluctant to do anything relating to school. I was just tired and I lost interest. Then I started my business around that time. I started seeing money, and consequently started seeing school as a by-the-way thing.
“With this present strike, I’m trying to make money and really focus on money. I’m not bothered about school. I know by the time we resume this will affect me a lot as I would have to try getting comfortable in the school environment again.”
To top it all, Subomi promises to ensure her child “does not attend a Federal University so that they don’t have to go through this.”
Conversely, for Oladipo, a 400 level student of the University of Lagos, the strike has been a blessing. According to him, he underwent a surgery last year and the break has given him time to properly heal.
While he has not been “feeling” empty as much, Oladipo confessed that sometimes he feels like honing his skills in Software Programming and Project Development but has not really been “gingered to do anything productive.”
Oladipo also expressed optimism about the strike saying he does not see it as a delay.
“I don’t think the strike will affect me as a youth. While people see strikes as a delay, I just see it as time to do other things that’ll be beneficial for me and my life. It gives me time to think about how life after school will be, because this is just a preview.
“If you have finished school, this is how life will be. You will just be home chilling, looking for how to break into the next stage of your life. If you can use the time allotted to you between strikes to do that, I don’t think your future will be very much affected. In my industry (Computer science), the degree honestly doesn’t mean that much, what matters more is experience,” he said.
The last development on the strike was another meeting which was held on Monday, in which negotiations by both the Federal Government and the Union led to no concrete conclusions.
ASUU has accused the Federal Government for failing to “satisfactorily” implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union in December 2020, on funding for revitalisation of public universities (both Federal and states), renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ ASUU Agreement, and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.
Other demands listed by the Union include Earned Academic Allowances, State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries, and non-remittance of third-party deductions.
The Federal Government has said it would spend about N34 billion on the ongoing payment of minimum wage consequential adjustments to education sector workers with effect from 2019.
According to a statement by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the beneficiaries include the members of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and their counterparts in the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, disclosed this while responding to questions from Labour correspondents in Abuja on the prolonged ASUU strike.
According to Ngige, the universities would get N23.5b, the polytechnics N6b and the Colleges of Education N4b, totaling about N34b.
Regarding the ASUU strike, the Minister said the committees set up during the last tripartite-plus meeting of the government and university-based unions were given a fortnight to turn in their report, and they were still working.
He added that the reports of the committees were being expected this weekend.
He said, “Those committees are working. The one on NITDA is testing the three platforms, the government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) of ASUU, and the Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (UPPPS) of the non-teaching staff.
“They started the testing last Thursday. The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) has issued their amendment circulars. The unions also have copies to take care of responsibility and hazard allowances wherever it has not been properly captured.
Ngige assured Nigerians that there may likely be wage adjustments as the government intensifies efforts to streamline wages through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.
“We have done that of the Police, for example. It wasn’t envisaged that we should do it in bits. But you can see that it has been done. You can also see university teachers saying that their own should be done immediately, since we have done police. So, something is being done. It was part of the 2009 negotiation they had with the government then. So, the committee of Prof. Briggs is on it, discussing with the university unions and their employer, the Federal Ministry of Education. They will bring up something for government to see.
“There are other people. The doctors are complaining about brain drain, this and that. Their hazard allowance has to be touched and it was touched by close to 300 percent. From N5,000 paid across board for each person, the least person in the health sector is getting N15,000 while the big ones are getting N45,000. That is a quantum leap.”
The minister appealed to ASUU and other university-based unions once more to suspend their strike so that academic activities could resume in public universities across the country.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday slammed the military for the harassment of protesting students of the University of Ibadan.
Students protesting the ongoing ASUU strike at the University of Ibadan’s main gate in Oyo State had clashed with a team of Nigerian Army personnel who attempted to run them over.
In a statement titled: “NEED FOR EXTREME CAUTION, DEMOCRATIC CIVILITY, AND SENSITIVITY IN HANDING STUDENT PROTESTS,” signed by its Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Adelaja Odukoya, the union condemned the military and the Nigeria Police Force’s activities thus far and urged the forces’ high command to caution their agents who have attempted attacks on students.
Odukoya said: “The army and police have constitutional responsibilities to protect and not attack, maim or brutalise protesting students across the country. There are more than enough pains, anguish, and bloodshed in the land on account of the government’s failure; to allow security indiscretion to cause the death of a single student will be unconscionable and unacceptable.
ASUU Lagos Zone wishes to use this opportunity to call on both the Nigerian Army and Police to rein in their officers with trigger happy disposition towards popular protests, particularly legitimate protests of students. This is in view of the ongoing protests forced upon students who have been out of their classrooms as a consequence of government insensitivity to the more three months old ASUU strike.”
ASUU declared its support for the students’ protests, saying it was monitoring the demonstrations across the country.
“The use of an army van to crush students at the University of Ibadan (UI) gate today is ugly, condemnable, and humiliating.
“Security personnel appear to have learned nothing beneficial from the #ENDSARS protests. It cannot be stressed enough that kids, like other people, have constitutionally protected rights to demonstrate,” the union added.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said on Tuesday the Senate would intervene in the lingering dispute between the Federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by bringing them back to the negotiation table.
Lawan stated this when concerned Methodist Bishop, Dr. Sunday Onuoha, led officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to his office in Abuja.
The NANS President, Mr. Sunday Asefon, who spoke on behalf of the students, decried their continued stay at home and disruption of the students’ academic programme.
He urged the Senate President to intervene in the dispute between the Federal government and the university teachers.
In his remark, the Senate President expressed unhappiness about the turn of events and recalled that the Senate had intervened in the matter in the past.
He, however, promised that the Senate would wade into the matter again and expressed optimism that the issues would be resolved soon.
Lawan said: “You are in the right place. We are going to intervene. We will make concerted and sustained efforts to bring back ASUU and the Federal government to the negotiating table.
“So that we are able to resolve as quickly as possible those issues that are now very knotty and have stopped our universities from reopening.
That is now making our students walk the streets all over the country.
But I want to appeal to you, too, since we are going to make an effort to bring everybody back to the negotiating table, you should give us a chance to do that believing that we are going to find a solution.
“Because it is not only enough to bring them back to the negotiating table, but we will participate and I want to make sure that we find the solution when we start the negotiation again.
“Now that you have come here, we are going to make sure that everybody in this sector, especially those in the public sector who have responsibility and mandate perform their functions.
“We will make sure they do that.
“Because you have come, I think we also have some tonic in us. Time is of essence and we must do whatever is necessary to get this issue resolved.”
He also appealed to the students to continue in the path of consultation and avoid confrontation.
“I also want to advise, I don’t think it will be necessary to disrupt political activities. We shouldn’t do that and we don’t need to do that.
“What we need to do is to continue to follow the path of consultation, consolidation, and avoid confrontation.
“It is when you emphasize consultation, it is much easier for us to find something that you can consolidate.
“Your prayer is that you want the Federal government and ASUU back to negotiate and resolve the issues.
“We have taken this prayer. We have endorsed it and we will work for it as quickly as possible.
“It is an opportunity for me also to appeal to ASUU to suspend this strike period because there is no way ASUU can negotiate with the Federal government when it is on strike.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has announced that it would continue its ongoing strike action which has paralyzed academic activities in the nation’s universities by another 12 weeks.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities on Sunday slammed the Federal Government for neglecting the education sector for frivolities.
The SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, who stated this in his address at the 2022 May Day celebration in Abuja blamed the federal government’s insincerity for the frequent closure of universities in the country.
He stated that the standard of education in the country was declining due to the insensitivity of the government.
SSANU and Non-Academic Staff Union and Associated Institutions (NASU) extended their warning strike by one month on April 25 to press home their demands for improved working conditions in the universities, among others.
The two unions first embarked on a two weeks strike on March 27 and extended it by another two weeks on April 10.
The second extension expired on April 24.
Ibrahim said: ‘’The morale of university workers is dampened by the poor pay package and the government appears to be paying lip service to funding education. It is very clear that government pays more attention to frivolous things and has neglected the youths that are said to be the leaders of tomorrow.’’
The SSANU president also lamented that Nigerian workers were going through perilous times occasioned by insecurity, economic hardship, and other challenges.
He added: ‘’This year’s Workers Day comes when Nigerian workers are passing through perilous times. Nigerian workers and indeed members of our great union are confronted with diverse challenges like the rising spate of armed banditry, kidnappings, insurgency, economic hardship, and worst of all, the inability of the government to keep to agreements entered into with all the university-based unions in 2009.
Our members have been denied payment of new Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment arrears and a backlog of earned allowances in addition to other violations of our rights and privileges. Our universities have been forced to shut down due to the insincerity of government to keep to its promises.’’
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Federal Government to establish a panel to address industrial unrest in Nigeria’s university system as soon as possible.
Mr. Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President, stated this in a communique signed by him and the NLC General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The communique was released after a joint meeting with the NLC and affiliate unions in the Education section, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASUEAI), and others (NASU).
The meeting’s main goal, according to Wabba, was to gather information on the ongoing industrial conflict in Nigeria’s university system.
Our concerns include the intermittent and protracted strikes and other industrial actions in Nigeria’s public tertiary education system.
“Non-Implementation of Collective Bargaining Agreements signed with unions in Nigeria’s tertiary education system which touch on university funding, earned allowances, and other welfare issues facing universities staff are also of concern to us,’’ he said.
He did say, however, that in view of the aforementioned issues, the meeting decided to call on the federal government to form up a High-Powered Panel right away.
The panel, according to the NLC President, shall be made up of members with the necessary mandates to resolve the aforementioned challenges harming industrial peace in Nigeria’s university system within 21 days.
“In pursuant of the foregoing resolution, the Nigeria Labour Congress would be convening a Special Meeting of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of all the Affiliate Unions of the Congress to decide on the next line of action,’’ he said.
On February 14, the ASUU embarked on an initial one-month warning strike to press home its demands but it was extended indefinitely after a breakdown in negotiations with the Federal Government.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Lagos Zone, on Tuesday, warned that the National Information Technology Development Agency’s rejection of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) may prolong the strike.
The strike will not be called off until the government resolves the adoption of UTAS, implements the renegotiated agreement, and pays all unpaid allowances, according to the union.
Adelaja Odukoya, the coordinator of ASUU Lagos Zone, stated that the UTAS suggested by the union passed the test and quality assurance requirements, scoring 99.3 percent, at a press event conducted at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, on Tuesday.
The refusal, according to Odukoya, was an attempt to play politics with the education sector.
He claimed that the NITDA’s statement criticizing the union’s efforts on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution is incorrect and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
“We, however, wish to draw the attention of all concerned to the deliberate misinformation and disinformation of the public by the National Information Technology and Development Agency on the state of the integrity test and adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution by the government.
The utterances of the NITDA spokesperson are capable of deliberate elongation of the ongoing strike action, suppose the government allows itself to be misinformed and misdirected through the managerial incompetence of the NITDA officers. In that case, our union considers it the peak of insensitivity to the plight of the universities, including staff, students, and indeed the country.
“Nonetheless, it is the considered opinion of our union that we owe the Nigerian people the onerous responsibility of providing the truth in discharging our patriotic duty as Nigerian Academic and the intellectual conscience of the Nigerian state.
ASUU wants to inform you that the current strike action will not be suspended until the government addresses the adoption of UTAS, implement the renegotiated agreement, pay all outstanding allowances without prejudice to the donation of $1 million to Afghanistan and fulfill all other issues contained in the Memorandum of Action signed with our Union,” he stated.
On February 14, the union had embarked on the ongoing strike in protest of non-payment of allowances by the Federal Government.
In order to resolve the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) the Federal Government said it exercised a series of integrity tests on the Universities Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) which eventually failed the tests.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa, who noted that this failure disqualifies the usage of UTAS as a payment platform for ASUU.
Inuwa stated this when he fielded questions from State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chambers, Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.
Inuwa further noted that the UTAS must be upgraded before the FG can consider it as a payment platform for the allowances accruable to ASUU.
The ASUU, on February 14, had embarked on a one-month warning strike to press home their demands involving about N1.3 trillion.
The union also wants the federal government to adopt the UTAS payment platform to replace the Integrated Personnel and Payment Information System (IPPIS).
Inuwa’s disclosure came after the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, confirmed a mandate from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, requesting a review of the submission and the technical ability of the software.
Consequently, Pantami stated that he forwarded the request to NITDA.
Pantami, however, directed the director-general of NITDA, who sat beside him, to give the situation report on the matter.
Inuwa said: “When we received the request to review UTAS, you know, building complex system like UTAS that involves employees’ personal data, and also payment system, we have to subject it to do best practice tests before approving.
“Normally, when we are reviewing that kind of system, we perform three tests.
“Firstly, because when you’re building a system, it’s not just about the technology, you need to consider the people that will use this system and the process.
If you don’t align people, process, and technology, you will never get a result. No matter how good the technology is, if people don’t understand how to use it, they won’t use it. And if the process is different from the way the people work, also, they won’t use it.
Part of the capability is the technology you need to bring in and the people that will operate the technology before you start thinking of the technology because technology is always a tool that will help you to achieve an objective or to do your work. If you bring the tool before knowing what to do with it, it will be useless.
“So, when they came, we said okay, fine, we will do user acceptance test. ASUU you’ve built this system, but you are not the one that will use the system.
“Secondly, we said we’ll do vulnerability test to test the security integrity of the system. Because if there is vulnerability, people can hack it, can change and it involves financial transactions. Adding zero means a lot. So we say we need to do that.
And also we need to do a stress test. You can build a system on your laptop or on a small computer, use it but when you put so much data it will crash, we need to do the stress test to make sure that the system can do.
“This is on the system. Then also you need to have a data centre where you need to put that system because just having a system without the data centre it will not operate also.
“So, we did all these three tests with them. And the system couldn’t pass. We wrote the reports and submitted it back to the Minister, which he forwarded to all relevant institutions, including ASUU.
“As we speak now, ASUU is working, trying to fix all the issues we highlighted with the system and we will review it again, but that is just one half of the story.’’
According to him, ASUU is yet to inform the federal government where the data centre of the system will be installed.
The second half of the story also, we need to find where to put that system like IPPIS we have a data centre built for it. ASUU where are we going to put it?
“That means we need to have the data centre and also we need to check the data centre to make sure it meets the minimum requirement because if you put people’s information and the system crashes, how can you pay them a salary?
“You need to build redundancy. There are a lot of things to do. So, as we speak, they’re trying to fix all the issues we highlighted with the system. Then when we finish that, we need to look at the second half of the story, getting where to install it.”
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