Abolaji Ayodeji
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has opposed the proposed education loan and demands withheld salaries
According to a statement by the Union President, Emmanuel Osodeke at the NEC meeting at the University of Calabar on Monday.
The statement read; “NEC observed with concern the systematic disengagement of government from the funding of Public Universities through the proposed introduction of education loans which has proven to be a monumental failure in our nation and some other countries where it was introduced. We find it troubling that the proponents of the policy are so eager to foist it down the throat of Nigerians when they have done more to push the working people of this country into poverty through sheer incompetence in handling our economic fortunes of ours.
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“The Union is disturbed by the surreptitious moves by the government to price university education beyond the reach of poor Nigerian students and their parents through the introduction of various charges. We commend student bodies who have seen through this ruinous path and are rising up to the
“The Union calls the attention of Nigerians to the lingering issue of renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement which was the initial issue that led to the just suspended strike More worrisome is the increasing anti-labour posture of government, suggestive of attempts to abrogate the principle of the collective bargaining agreement. NEC rejects in totality the government’s arrogant insistence on handing down an award instead of a bargained salary package.
“The meeting also reviewed and condemned the government’s attempt to casualize the job of intellectuals, as reflected in the pro-rated salaries paid to our members for the month of October 2022, as well as the continued withholding of our member’s salaries for the preceding eight (8) months, even when the backlog of the work are being covered by our members in various ways.
“ASUU calls on Nigerians of goodwill to, in the interest of our students and the nation, prevail on the Nigerian government to urgently address all outstanding issues contained in the December 2020 FGN-ASUU Memorandum of NEC rejects with vehemence, the current attempts to impose master-slave treatment as the mechanism for relating with Nigerian scholars under whatever guise by the ruling class. ASUU members are citizens, not slaves.
“Finally, NEC appreciates the resilience of our members and their families. Their understanding and perseverance, in the face of hardship and provocation occasioned by government’s intransigence and insensitivity, shall be rewarded by posterity,” the statement read.
