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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Chris Piwuna, has declared that there is no going back on its planned two-week nationwide warning strike over some lingering issues, if the Federal Government fails to respond on or before the October 13 expiry date.
The planned strike follows a two-week ultimatum issued last week, asking the Federal Government to address its unresolved issues, including the signing and implementation of the renegotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement.
Speaking with newsmen on Monday during the Orientation/Leadership Training for Academic Staff Union, Niger Delta University branch, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Piwuna, insisted that the union has agreed on its position on a warning strike which will not change except its demands with the Federal Government are met.
“The warning strike notice has been issued, and we are not meeting to discuss that again as a union because our position has been taken, and by midnight of Monday, we will embark on a two-week warning strike, after which we will meet after the expiration to decide when to begin an indefinite and comprehensive strike action. “The issues remain the same, re-negotiation of our 2009 documents is still lingering over the years and we want Nigerians to know that we have been talking, and the strike action is coming after several years of negotiations and we are not just jumping on a strike.
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“We have given the government enough time on this particular issue, just imagine they have us three weeks to get back to us and never did till this moment. Nigerians must always look at the actions of the government that has always pushed us to such actions.”
On the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), Piwuna pointed out that giving loans in a depressed economy is not realistic.
“We have told the government that we do not support loans in such a depressed economy. In an economy where the unemployment rate is high, families can’t feed themselves, so where do they want them to repay the loan?
“If they truly want to give them money, they should come out clean; where the jobs that will enable them to repay the loans, if the monies are meant to make the universities run better, it should be given as a grant, not a loan.”
“Recently, some of the reports coming from NELFUND make us think we are right, when an organisation that is less than a year since its establishment and has less than a hundred staff has been spending N14 billion on personnel, when even this university, which has over 1,000 staff cannot spend that amount in a year, including building of structures.”
