Prevail on FG to honour agreements, ASUU tells religious leaders, others

AS another industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) looms, the union religious and traditional leaders as well as prominent Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to implement the MoUs and MoAs it signed with the body to avert strike action.

The union also called on President Buhari to take decisive action that will address the demands of the union and save the country’s ailing education sector and return it to the path of glory.

Speaking at the end of its congress, Chairman of ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi branch, Dr. Ibrahim Inuwa, said unless positive steps were taken by the Federal Government to avert the strike, “the action this time will be total and there will be no going back”.

Dr Inuwa who spoke with journalists after the Congress said that, “The congress has informed the national body of the union that it is ready to resume strike action. The government is not sincere with the union.

“Since 2009, members of ASUU had remained on the same salary grade level. The agreement was that promotion will be based on the current exchange rate of the dollar. You can imagine what we are going through now considering the economic situation,” Dr Inuwa said.

They lamented that many of its members have not been paid their salaries for more than 12 months due to the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which according to them has forced untold hardship on the lecturers.

ASUU also berated the Federal Government for not releasing the N1.5 trillion revitalisation funds to universities, saying “since the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan which released N200 billion, the present administration only released paltry sums which did not go round public universities.”

ASUU lamented that, “while the government is paying lip service and dragging feet on the implementation of the MoUs and MoAs, it went ahead to increase students’ charges, warning that the system will collapse if the charges remained what they were.

“It is wrong for anyone to say that ASUU is insensitive to the problem the strike will have on the lives of the students. We are also feeling the pain. The situation is just beyond our control.

“Mr President too should be sincere in implementing the various MoUs and MoAs in order to have stability in the tertiary education sector. We are tired of deceit and empty promises,” he added.

(Nigerian Tribune)