Adesola Sulaimon
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of not being sincere in its dealings with them towards resolving the ongoing strike.
President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke said this during an interview on Channels TV on Monday.
Osodeke, who disclosed that the union would be meeting with representatives of the FG on Tuesday, also accused the government of playing lip service with them.
He described as unfortunate the move of the government to placate its members into calling off the strike with salary increment, rather than holistically addressing the issues affecting university education in the country.
He said “The government is not sincere in its dealing with us. This has been the issue all along.
“What we are doing is the sacrifice we have to save this country and its youths. A collapsed university system is a collapsed country, and we are almost there. We will not be tired, we will ensure that our university system works.
Police confirm abduction of Nasarawa State commissioner
“We have not heard any serious communication from the government though they have invited us for renegotiation of the 2009 agreement tomorrow (today).
“The issues have to do with funding, structure, autonomy, and how to raise funds for the university system in Nigeria. But the government has reduced the issue to just salary alone.
“If the government has looked at the issues comprehensively, we will not be talking about funding. This government wants to blackmail us with salaries.
“Every university in the world is an autonomous body. You don’t subject the university to public service. This is why we are where we are today.
“The renegotiation started in 2017 when Mr. Wale Babalakin was appointed to chair the talks. We spent more than two years on that.
“That committee eventually collapsed when Babalakin was removed as the Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Another person was appointed.
“Each time a new committee is set up, the first question we ask them is whether they have the mandate to renegotiate the whole agreement with us and they usually answer in the affirmative.”
