ASUU: FG Releases N30bn For Lecturers' Allowances

The federal government Tuesday released the sum
of N30 billion to the Ministry of Education for
onward disbursement to the universities for the
payment of earned allowances of the striking
members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU).
Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswan, made
this disclosure at a meeting with the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), at the
state Governor's Lodge in Abuja, where he
reiterated his appeal to the striking union to return
to the classrooms in the interest of the future
leaders of the country.
Suswan, who is also the chairman of the Needs
Implementation Committee, said the money for the
earned allowances was released yesterday
afternoon.
The governor admitted that although there was
delay in the commencement of the implementation
of the existing agreements, the government had
already addressed almost all of the demands of
ASUU except on the allowances.
He described as 'unfair' comments allegedly made
by ASUU leadership that the government was
insincere and that the government disbursement of
N100 billion for infrastructure needs of the
institutions was done without consultations.
"ASUU participated in all the meetings where it was
agreed to raise N100 billion, which has already
been distributed to all the universities. In fact, the
president of ASUU nominated one Dr. Baffa, who is
very resourceful. He did all the work, and presented
the criteria for distribution of the money which is
based on the population of each university," he
explained.
Suswan added that after the draft distribution was
drawn up, he asked the union to go through the
document for their satisfaction.
"Instead, they wrote me a letter accusing the
committee of insincerity. The councils are the ones
that would verify what we are owing, go and ask
them. ASUU said no, that unless we put N92 billion
on the table," he added.
The governor clarified that the government cannot
hand over any money blindly unless it verified the
need. This, he said, was necessary so that every
university would be allocated the money it needed
for the earned allowances.
On the N100 billion for infrastructure, which had
already been disbursed to the schools, Suswan said
the governing councils would be the ones to award
the contracts, and not the Needs Implementation
committee.
Suswan also alleged that the strike had assumed a
political dimension. He appealed to all well-
meaning Nigerians to work with the federal
government to find a permanent solution to the
incessant strikes, which held the danger of seeing
to the production of mediocre graduates.
He also urged NANS not to embark on a protest as
being canvassed in some quarters. Instead, he
appealed to the union to urge ASUU to return to
work.
"To raise N100 billion in two weeks is not an easy
task. We are making efforts to ensure that this
intervention is sustained beyond 2013," he said.
NANS President, Mr. Yinka Gbadebo, in an earlier
address, expressed the intention of the students'
body to embark on a protest either against the
government or ASUU.
He also urged the government to consider the idea
of interest-free loans for tertiary education students
to ease the financial burden on those, who cannot
easily pay for their education.
But as if goading the union to maintain its hard
stance,the Forum for Justice and Human Rights
Defence (fjhd) has given ASUU a pat on the back
for its commitment in prosecuting the three-month
old strike to compel the federal government to
finally address the myriad of problems bedevilling
the country's university education system.
The group said the action of ASUU was not
unjustified while questioning the sincerity of the
federal government "to meeting the said demands"
despite the reported release of N130 billion to the
governing councils of the different universities.
In a statement by its National Coordinator,
Oghenejabor Ikimi, the group lamented that
hindsight has not shown the government acting in
a sincere manner that would cause it to be trusted
by the ASUU leadership.
In the opinion of Ikimi, the leadership of ASUU
should not shift ground on the strike issue until the
government demonstrated its seriousness by
signing a kind of undertaking to implement the
reformatory recommendations of the academic
union after the strike would have been called off.
The statement said: "Even if the federal
government's intention in the above regard is
sincere, it is our considered opinion that before
ASUU calls off its strike action, it must ensure that
the federal government as a matter of urgency,
signs a workable document with the leadership of
ASUU on how it intends to meet their demands
bearing in mind that a similar agreement signed in
2009 between the federal government and ASUU
has not been implemented by the Federal
Government till date.
"The group believes that ASUU's demands are
genuine and real as (the strike) is an attempt by
ASUU to save our educational system from
extinction. For instance, in a recent world
assessment of universities where the list of the
world's first 1,000 universities were published no
Nigerian university was mentioned.
The group stressed that “our universities deserve
better funding to be able to re-position and
revitalise itself as citadels of learning before they
can turn out graduates the nation can be proud of."
However, the Delta State University, Abraka
(DELSU) chapter of ASUU has expressed
appreciation to Nigerians "for the support availed
ASUU so far in the struggle", saying it would not
waver but remain resolute until victory was
achieved.
In a statement signed by its chairman, Dr.
Emmanuel Nwafor Mordi, the body also condemned
what it called shoddy conduct recently of the
university's Post-UTME, claiming that its
organisation "fell short of minimum standards for
DELSU examinations."
Meanwhile, the National Association of Philosophy
Students (NAPS) has said the federal government’s
inability to implement the 2009 agreement was a
clear indication of its untrustworthy nature.
NAPS stated at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday,
that the issues raised by ASUU, which had resulted
in an indefinite nationwide strike were basically for
the good of all Nigerian public institutions and as
such should not be hard for the government to
implement..
Its Chairman, Adeshina Lukman, said in his
address, that the union and all other student bodies
in the country were disturbed with the development
and had giving the government an ultimatum to
address the situation as soon as possible, failure of
which, it would galvanise a mass protest against
the government.
“It is no longer news that Nigerian universities are
underfunded, Nigerian universities cannot be
compared with any university in the world and this
explains why there is brain-drain in the country,”
the association lamented.