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•Protesting lecturers shut campuses, ongoing exams threatened
By Gabriel Dike, Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar, Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan, Jude Owuamanam, Jos and Paul Orude, Bauchi
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have voted overwhelmingly for an indefinite strike if the Federal Government fails to address their outstanding demands.
This is as the nationwide protest directed by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union commenced in many university campuses yesterday. Scores of ASUU members chanted songs of solidarity across the campuses nationwide.
Some of the universities that held their emergency congress voted for strike with many supporting an indefinite action.
The University of Calabar branch warned the Federal Government not to stampede the union into the “mother of all strikes.”
Chairperson, University of Ibadan (UI) branch, Dr Aderemi Afolabi, led his members, carrying banners condemning the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement on the protest march across the campus.
While Dr Afolabi was joined by the Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Oyo State, Mr Kayode Martins, the protest of the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education was led by its chairman, Dr Michael Bamidele Ojo.
Brandishing placards with various inscriptions, the ASUU members marched round the campuses, sensitizing the university community to the probability of another industrial action if the government does not finalise the signing of agreements already reached with the union when it meets with its team tomorrow.
As they marched around campus, the ASUU members sang songs which accused the president of forgetting his promises, while campaigning and demanded that the welfare of the university lecturers in public universities should attract the attention and urgent intervention of President Bola Tinubu.
Addressing pressmen in front of the gate of the institution, Dr. Afolabi said that the Federal Government has pushed lecturers to the wall. He said only the signing of the agreement tomorrow, August 28, can intercept another industrial strike in public universities.
Speaking at the rally, Martins urged president Tinubu to preserve those who lay the golden eggs who are the lecturers in Nigerian universities by signing the agreements and commencing implementation without delay.
According to him, it is sad to hear that politicians are agitating for more pay when professors are poorly remunerated.
“Those who lay the golden eggs must be preserved, they are the molders and builders of our destinies. Education should be given appropriate attention because that is what drives development in any nation. We are talking of 2009 agreements unimplemented and today, political office holders are agitating for more salaries when professors are less paid. This should not be. We are beckoning on our leaders to save us if indeed they have a mind for the masses.”
But, a former ASUU chairman in Lagos zone told Daily Sun that the six branches in the Lagos zone have endorsed the strike. He said members overwhelmingly gave NEC the go ahead to declare a strike if the government fails to implement the outstanding demands.
“At our various congresses in the zone, members expressed displeasure about the attitude of the present administration to ASUU’s demands. We acknowledge the meeting of Thursday, August 28, if nothing good comes out of it, NEC will take the appropriate step.
“The only language the government understands is strike. Can you imagine, 16 years after the government and ASUU signed an agreement in 2009 that will address many issues in public universities, the present and previous governments have failed to implement it. The congresses have spoken.”
Reports from other zones indicated the same enforcement for a national strike if the government did not act fast before the next NEC meeting.
At UNILAG, FUNAAB, OOU and three others, ASUU members approved an indefinite strike if the Tinubu-led administration fails to act fast.
ASUU-UNILAG chairman, Prof Idowu Kehinde, said members in various universities are hungry and are teaching on an empty stomach because of poor welfare and non-payment of three and half months of outstanding salaries.
Prof. Kehinde disclosed that the Federal Government, with its current attitude, is pushing ASUU to embark on a national strike.
He called on Nigerians to appeal to the government to do the needful before it is too late.
Some of the placards read: ‘Education is life, pay lecturers living wages,’ ‘Neglect of university education is a pack to underdevelopment,’ and ‘Proper funding of university education is non-negotiable.’
Details of the resolutions reached at the various congresses of ASUU indicate overwhelming decisions to go on strike.
Daily Sun gathered that the university lecturers at the various referendums held on Monday and yesterday voted for industrial action.
One of the branch chairmen told Daily Sun that his congress voted for an indefinite strike.
The UNILAG lecturers are protesting the failure of the Federal Government to address their demands. The protest started after the union concluded their emergency congress and condemned the attitude of the government to ASUU’s demands, including the 2009 FG/ASUU signed agreement.
The protest paralysed academic activities on campus and created traffic gridlock as the lecturers moved the venue of the congress to the main gate and to the senate building.
Some of the lecturers carried a big banner and several placards with different inscriptions.
The protest/rally took place in seven public universities in the Lagos zone.
Chairman, University of Jos branch, Jurbe Joseph Molwus, accused President Tinubu of reneging on his campaign promises to settle all outstanding claims if elected into power.
“We recall the benevolent disposition of president Bola Tinubu during our nationwide strike in 2022. He declared willingness and readiness to settle all our claims even if it was going to take his personal money.
“He further promised Nigerians during his campaign rallies that he would never allow strikes to take place in our universities during his tenure. With these pronouncements, we were very hopeful that a president who would decisively and genuinely address our issues holistically, has come.
“Unfortunately, we are addressing the press and doing a protest rally all over the country today because the issues have remained substantially unaddressed more than two years into his tenure of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
“We wonder what has happened now that he is the president and not an aspirant that he was in 2022 when he made such promises. We wonder if President Tinubu is really aware that our demands have yet to be met. Please help us to reach the president and advise him to engage directly with our leaders to hear things for himself.”
At the Federal University, Gashua (FUGA) branch, lecturers carried placards with inscriptions such as: ‘You just forgot we taught you,’ ‘Pay promotion arrears we earned,’ ‘Our pay no longer takes us home,’ and ‘Empty promises cannot build a university,’ and marched round the campus to express their grievances.
Addressing journalists during the protest, the Chairperson of ASUU-FUGA, Dr. Ali Bulama, said the demonstration was meant to enlighten the community, remind the Federal Government and alert parents, students and stakeholders about the urgent need for action on the issues affecting public universities.
“The essence of our protest is to tell the government that empty promises cannot build universities. They must honour the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement, pay our withheld salaries, not as loans because we never demanded one, revitalize the university system and respect collective bargaining agreements,” Dr. Bulama stated.
He further emphasised that education is a right, not a privilege, and should not be gambled with. According to him, the refusal of the government to address ASUU’s long-standing demands amounts to playing games with the future of Nigerian students.
Bulama stressed that ASUU is not an employer in universities but a body fighting for the rights and welfare of its members. “University managements are guarantors of loans, not ASUU. We say no to perpetual debt and misery. What we are asking for are our rights and privileges,” he declared.
The protest ended peacefully, with lecturers vowing to sustain the campaign until the government acts on their demands.
