The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given
conditions upon which the current industrial action will be suspended.
The president of the union, Abiodun Ogunyemi, stated the
conditions in an interview on Sunday night with the reporters.
Mr. Ogunyemi said it was unfortunate that Nigerian leaders
“like to move in circles without resolving the challenges rocking the system”.
“Some of these conditions, ASUU said, include the full
implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) the two parties willingly
signed in October 2017,” he said.
“So the MoA must be implemented fully before we can even
talk of suspension of the strike. If they implement the outstanding issues in
the MoA fully and change the leadership of the negotiating team, then we can go
back to the negotiation,” Mr. Ogunyemi said.
After last week’s meeting by ASUU and the federal government
which yielded no satisfactory results, the two parties will on Monday (today)
meet at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.
The purpose of the meeting slated for 5 p.m. is to find a
lasting solution to the ongoing strike.
The union embarked on strike three weeks ago over the poor
funding of Nigerian universities, an alleged plan by the federal government to
increase students’ fees and introduce an education bank, as well as
non-implementation of previous agreements.
According to Mr. Ogunyemi, the union’s position is aimed at
repositioning the nation’s universities for global relevance.
“As they (schools) currently stand, they can neither attract
competent foreign lecturers or foreign students who could add to their global
rating.
“Our prayer is that the meeting should be productive,
because contrary to the people’s belief, we don’t also enjoy embarking on
strike. It affects us as individuals as it affects the nation.
“Unfortunately, that is the language the government
understands. Each time ASUU goes on strike our work is disrupted. But what work
are we doing under unfavorable conditions?” Mr. Ogunyemi said.
Meanwhile Members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and
the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on November 19 embarked
on a protest to demand increased funding for education.
The protest was titled “Save education rally”.
The president of National Association of Nigerian Students
(NANS), Danielson Akpan, said the the dwindling allocation of funding to the
sector is saddening.
“The funding keeps dropping every year,” Mr. Akpan said.
The head of International Relations department at the NLC,
Uche Ekwe, also said much attention is not given to the education sector.
According to him, the major reason for the ongoing ASUU
strike is poor funding of the sector.
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