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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called on the Federal Government to reverse its ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy, and stop criminalizing the union over the eight months old strike it embarked upon.
The ASUU branch of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) at a special congress and one-day protest rally, expressed regrets at the federal government’s ‘no- work, no- pay’ policy and the ‘pro-rata’ payment and urged the government to meet the union’s demands.
The lecturers in their large numbers began the solidarity protest by matching from the new Faculty of Science auditorium of the university’s premises to the school’s main gate chanting slogans and carrying placards with different inscriptions.
Some of the placards read: “ University staff say no to pro- rata salary”, “ Ngige is an enemy of education in Nigeria” “ Buhari pay our salary backlog, it is our right”, “ Ngige is a confused minister”, UTAS the only way out”, “ On Nimi Brigg’s agreement we stand” and so on.
ASUU FUOYE Financial Secretary, Dr. Fagbuagun Abayomi, who spoke for the branch chairperson, Dr Gabriel Omonijo, said, “ We are here today to ensure that our voices are heard by the whole world. To tell the whole world the kind of situation the federal government under the Ministry of Labour and Employment and that of the Minister of Education has subjected us to.
“We want to tell the whole world that the ‘ no- work, no- pay’ that the federal government has subjected us to is unknown to any law, it is unknown to international labour law and we want to tell the whole world that the criminalisation of strike is unknown to any law, that strike is our right to press home our demands.
“We want the world to know that strike is not the only weapon that we can use. We have explored all avenues but the federal government of Nigeria remains adamant mainly because they are not interested in the educational development of the country.
“Government has not paid the desired attention to us mainly because their children are not in any of the federal universities in Nigeria, that is why they have developed a nonchalant attitude to education, and the last strike we held, we made known some vital points, vital demands to the ministry of labour and employment, especially the federal government, and regarding these points, the federal government had set up various committees.
“They were the people that set up the committees but when the reports of the committees came out it was very shocking to the whole world especially we in ASUU that the same federal government that set up the committees will neglect the reports of that committee. The committees were set up in 2009, 2013, 2020, and the recent one 2022 which the federal government has neglected we know that the federal government is not interested in the educational development of Nigeria.
“We say no to all the antics and tactics being used by the government against us to stop us from getting our entitlements.”
Speaking on their deliberations at the congress, Fagbuagun said, “We deliberated on the ‘ no-work, no- pay’ position of the government and we condemn it in absolute term and we thereby resolved that if the federal government fails to pay our outstanding salary of seven months, all the sessions that were involved in the strike, we have decided that all those works we will abandon them too.”
“Since the federal government does not have interest in education, we are going to withdraw our services, for instance, we have been participating in elections to give credibility to elections because we are academic staff. We have been making a proposal to ASUU NEC to stop all this.
“In addition, our welfare is of paramount importance, we want our backlogs of arrears to be paid, we want revitalization to be released and we want most especially the reports of the visitation panel to be released. It is very shocking that despite the investment the federal government is having in universities they are afraid of coming over to look at what they are doing with the money.
ASUU Akure Zonal Coordinator, Prof Olu-Olu Olufayo, who urged the members not to lose hope in the struggle, assured them saying “ We are doing this because we know that as for ASUU we have never lost a battle and that is why we keep telling them to maintain law and order since we have agreed to go by the reports of our lawyers and the advice of our lawyers, we heeded the first advice and returned back to work.
“We find it difficult to return to the classrooms last two weeks and today we say we are embarking on another strike, moreso that the case is still in court. We don’t want to be seen as somebody who is taking the law into our hands and that is why we said while that is going on let there be peace but we can as well keep on putting it on the front burner that we have not been paid so that Nigerians after about two weeks will not say all is over. It is not yet over until it is over. “’
