Daybreak, Politics, Entertainment, Sport

Tag: ASUU strike

Buhari Directs Education Minister To Proffer Solution To ASUU Strike In Two Weeks
Following the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to proffer a solution to the challenge and report back to him in two weeks.
Sources in the Presidential Villa said the President gave the directive on Tuesday during a meeting with relevant government Ministries, Agencies, and Departments (MDAs) where he received briefings on the current face-off with the university unions since February 14, among other issues.
Although it is not unusual for the President to hold briefings with the ministers, it was gathered that President Buhari placed a high premium on the issue of resolving the lingering ASUU strike.
Besides the directive to the education minister, the President instructed that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, must be in attendance in all the meetings to speedily resolve the crisis.
Those present at the meeting include Adamu, Ngige, and Mustapha, as well as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta; and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.
President Buhari’s directive comes a week after he told the striking university lecturers that ‘enough is enough’ and should as a matter of responsibility reconsider their position on the prolonged strike with a view to calling it off.
ASUU commenced a nationwide strike on February 14 over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the government as the payment system in the university sector.
Members had also decried the poor funding of universities, non-payment of salaries and allowances of some of their colleagues, as well as the inability of the government to pay earned academic allowance to lecturers, among other issues.
Since the industrial action began, several negotiations between the union and the government have ended in deadlock.
July 20, 2022
ASUU STRIKE: NLC to Embark on National Protest
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC says July 26 and 27 would be National Days of Protest across the country to force the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU to resolve their issues and suspend the lingering strike.
Recall that ASUU on February 14, 2022, shut down public universities over the inability of the federal government to implement agreements the two parties entered into in previous years.
ASUU and other unions are demanding funding, revitalisation of universities, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme, as well as promotion arrears.
Recall that the NLC had given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to resolve the lingering issues. The ultimatum, however, elapsed without tangible moves to end the strike.
Following the expiration of the ultimatum, the NLC, in a statement issued by its president, Ayuba Wabba said the solidarity protest would take place in all the 36 states and the FCT.
The statement reads, “In line with the decision of the National Executive Council, NEC meeting of the Nigerian Labour Congress held on 30th of June 2022, we have scheduled the National Days of Protest to get our children back to school and support our unions in Nigerians public universities fighting for quality education.
“Date, Tuesday 26th July 2022 and Wednesday 27th July 2022
“Venue: At the state capitals of the Federation and Abuja the Federal Capital Territory. Take off points: NLC state secretariats and the Labour House Abuja”.
July 17, 2022
NLC Declares Nationwide Protest Over Insecurity, ASUU Strike
The organised labour movement is planning to hold a protest on the state of the nation.
The protest is to call the attention of the government to the country’s deteriorating security situation, the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the unending energy crisis.
Speaking at two separate conferences in Abuja, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr Ayuba Wabba and the President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Mr Ambali Olatunji, decried the worsening security situation in the country and asked the government to act.
“For four months and running, the children of the poor have remained at home,” Mr Wabba said.
“Today as we speak, Diesel is selling for more than N800 per litre. There is no way this situation can be allowed to continue.
“So I think there’s an urgency in addressing this issue.
“And therefore, central working committee decided that there will be a one-day national protest to call the attention of government to resolve this issue immediately.”
The labour leaders also discussed other issues, including the ongoing constitution amendment, especially the aspect that touches on the autonomy of the local government and the judiciary.
July 1, 2022
ASUU Strike Will Be Resolved Soon, Ngige Assures Nigerian Students
The Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige says the Federal Government has been meeting with the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) over its lingering strike and assured Nigerians that the dispute with the lecturers will be resolved soon.
Ngige said this on Wednesday while briefing the press after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House in Abuja.
According to him, contrary to insinuations that the government was not engaging with ASUU, there have been a series of meetings between all parties, and the next one is scheduled for Thursday to resolve the face-off.
The former governor also dismissed talks that the Federal Government has a different payment table for trade unions in tertiary institutions. Ngige noted that it might be impossible to raise the payment table because other unions, even in the health sector, might kick.
He said although the Government is not afraid of handling the situation, it has to operate within the available resource.
The Labour Minister also promised that the 13-year-old ASUU challenge involving a 2009 negotiation agreement and payment platform issues are being renegotiated and will be resolved before the end of the current administration.
Ngige’s remark is the latest from the Federal Government since the face-off with the university lecturers who had embarked on strike since February 14.
The public university teachers are seeking improved funding for the government-owned institution, and the adoption of its University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment platform among others.
Several meetings between the Federal Government and the union in the past months have yielded little results. Students across the country had earlier protested against the lingering industrial action, vowing to shutdown major roads in Nigeria.
June 22, 2022
NANS Protest Against Prolong ASUU Strike in Benue State
By Isaac Kertyo, Makurdi
Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Benue State chapter on Monday staged a peaceful protest against the prolong strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities.
The students barricaded major streets in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, causing traffic jam as they moved round the town to register their grievances.
The group who carried placards with various inscriptions such as ” Education is a right, not a privilege” among others said they were in the streets to press home their demand for universities to be reopened.
Chairman of NANS in Benue State, Comr Matthew Faasema who spoke to Day Break in an interview lamented that ” we are here in the streets to register our grievances over the prolong ASUU strike. We resolved during our congress in Sokoto recently to stage a nation wide protest”.
Comr Faasema who blamed the Federal Government over its failure to Implement the agreement it had entered into with ASUU, maintained that the position of the union is for the best interest of the Nigerian students.
“This is not the first time, year in year out, ASUU is going on strike. We are making our demands very clear to the Federal Government that this is what we want, we want to go back to the class”.
May 23, 2022
Soldiers fire live ammunition, disperse students protesting ASUU strike
Military personnel have dispersed students of various universities in Ondo State who are protesting the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
The soldiers were said to have opened fire to chase the students away from the Ilesha/Akure highway on Tuesday.
The students who were drawn from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, AAUA, and Olusegun Agagu University of Technology, Okitipupa, OAUSTECH, had since on Monday barricaded the highway disrupting vehicular movement.
The protesting students who bemoaned the attitude of the federal government on the matter with ASUU had converged on the FUTA North Gate and Roadblock where they blocked the road to register their grievances.
It was gathered that the soldiers who were not from the 32 Artillery Brigade in the state were on transit when they were barred from passing through the highway at the Roadblock axis of the road by the protesting students.
According to some of the students who scampered for safety, the soldiers who were coming from the Ilesha end of the road descended on the students and destroyed their belongings.
May 17, 2022
FG Plan On A Funding Structures For Public Universities – Nwajiuba
The Federal Government is working on a funding structure for public universities in the country as part of moves to tackle the incessant strikes by lecturers in these institutions.
This is according to the former Minister of State for Education Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba who noted that the government’s funding of public universities is unsustainable.
“I have proposed, and the Minister of Education (Adamu Adamu) will continue discussing this with Mr President, a new scheme in which universities have a different way of earning money to be able to care for themselves,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
The presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 election maintained that with the number of public universities in the country, these schools have to get new ways of making money to fund their institutions.
“Because you see, there are only 50 of these federal universities and there are 200 others. However, these 50 alone are more than 75 percent of the number of students in the entire university structure – about 2.2m of them,” he argued.
“So, it is important we give them a funding structure; we need to bring a funding structure to the table because this coming hand-in-cap to the Federal Government at all times cannot be continued and is not sustainable.”
‘Point of Departure’
Nwajiuba, who last week resigned his position in the cabinet to concentrate on his presidential dream, said “this (a new funding structure) is something I would implement if you give me your mandate to be president.
“I know that even if it is not implemented now, the universities autonomy law needs to be reactivated.”
The former minister’s comment adds to the debates about funding for public universities in the country. Lecturers in these institutions have been on strike since February 14, pushing their demands, which include better funding for universities.
But the APC chieftain believes ASUU should reconsider strike as a means to press home their demands.
“In the last 20 years, we have had nearly 16 strikes. So, my position has not been that ‘Please, ASUU is talking rubbish’,” Nwajiuba said. “No, this is not true. ASUU is making a case for the entire university system.
He, however, said, “the only point of departure is that we have asked ASUU that strikes cannot cure the problem.”
“We need our children back in school. It hurts parents; it hurts us,” the presidential aspirant noted. “My own children are here. I don’t have children in private universities.”
May 16, 2022
ASUU Strike Has Worsened Drug Abuse – Obaseki
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Friday in Benin blamed the increasing rate of drug abuse in the state on the lingering Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.
Obaseki disclosed this while reviewing the state’s security situation for the months of February, March and April.
He said Edo recorded 19 drug abuse cases in February, 34 cases in March and 23 cases in April.
Recall that the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, embarked on strike in February over the failure of the Federal Government to address their concerns.
“Drug abuse is now the number two issue of concern in our state,” Obaseki said.
“Our analysis shows that there has been a high rate of consumption of drugs in the last few months.
“This isn’t unconnected with the ASUU strike which has kept many students at home and idle.’’
The review came following a joint security meeting between the state government and representatives of various security agencies in Edo.
“I use the opportunity of this meeting to appeal to ASUU and the Federal Government to do all they can to end this strike as soon as possible,” Obaseki said.
“This is in the interest of the children so that we don’t keep them at home and destroy their lives.
“If they aren’t going to school, as you know the idle mind is a devil’s workshop. One way we hope that we can reduce the use of drugs is if we take these children back to school.’’
May 14, 2022
ASUU STRIKE: Reps intervene as students shut down Lagos-Abeokuta road
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives has ordered relevant committees of the chamber to intervene in the crisis between the Federal Government and the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Wase, who presided over the plenary on Wednesday, mandated chairmen of the House Committees on Education and Labour to resolve the crisis, failing which the leadership of the parliament would step into the matter.
At the close of the plenary, Wase said, “There is something that is still left out and I want to use (this opportunity) and beg our Chairmen of Committees on Labour and Education to expedite action on the resolution of the crisis in the education industry. This will go a long way in helping our citizens.
“I want to beg that, please, let us do the right thing so that we resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The House has intervened in a number of issues and I think it would not be too much if we can resolve this within a short period of time…or for the leadership to intervene if there is not much progress. I pray that there is very excellent progress, moving ahead.”
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had earlier on Tuesday said the Senate would intervene in the lingering dispute by bringing back the two parties to the negotiation table.
Lawan made the promise to the executives of the National Association of Nigerian Students who were led to his office by a Bishop of the Methodist Church, Dr. Sunday Onuoha.
Students shut down Lagos-Abeokuta expressway
Scores of students in Ogun state, on Wednesday, blocked the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to protest the ASUU strike.
The students, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Student, Ogun State Joint Campus Committee, invaded the Obada axis of the highway with placards chanting anti-government songs.
The protesters displayed placards with inscriptions such as “End ASUU Strike now”, “Enough is Enough”, “Nigerian Students are suffering” and “FG listen to ASUU”.
The protest left, many motorists stranded as travelers were trapped.
Speaking on behalf of the students, the state chairman of NANS, Kehinde, Simeon, warned that the extension of the strike would worsen the nation’s security challenges.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the Federal government is playing politics with the lives of Nigerian students. We have been clamouring from time past ever since the commencement of this ASUU strike that something should be done with immediate effect, but it is obvious that both the Federal government and ASUU have decided to turn deaf ears to our agitations.”
May 12, 2022
ASUU Strike: FG To Resume Talks With Varsity Lecturers
The Federal Government will resume talks with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by next week as part of moves to end the lingering strike by the lecturers.
Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige, said this on Friday in his opening remark at a meeting with the striking National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
“As a conciliator, I manage you people in measured steps. That is why I want to take all of you holistically and I ask for your cooperation. When I finish with you today, I will continue with ASUU next week,” a statement by the acting spokesman of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Patience Onuobia, quoted Ngige as saying.
“I have done NASU and SSANU yesterday and they were happy. I want you people to be happy as we leave here.”
He said that strikes in the education sector could have been averted if the unions embraced his open-door policy.
“If you are from any union, you don’t need to book an appointment to see me. The doctors started using that advantage, and JOHESU also did the same. That is why the health sector is quiet. But the education unions don’t take advantage of my open-door policy,” the former Anambra State governor said.
“We don’t have to cry over spilt milk. Let us look at your issues to see the ones we can handle immediately, the ones we can do in the medium term and the ones we can do in the long term. There are certain ones that are over and above me, that are not in my hands to do.
“My job is to prepare an agreement after conciliation on what you have agreed with your employers, the Federal Ministry of Education, put timelines and monitor them, to see whether the results will be there.”
The minister believes the strikes in the sector were mainly due to economic reasons and he says with dialogue, the solution would be reached.
The move is the government’s latest effort to end the strike which was embarked on by ASUU on February 14, 2022.
Following the industrial action, students recently protested in Benin City, calling for the reopening of schools.
Several high-profile personalities including the First Lady of Lagos State, Ibironke Sanwo-Olu, have also waded into the matter. She is concerned that with students at home for over two months, they risk taking up crimes.
May 7, 2022