Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Indication that the strike by both the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) may not end soon emerged yesterday with ASUU and ASUP top officers saying that the strike may linger for a while despite agreement with the Federal Government.
The minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, had at the weekend, expressed confidence that the protracted strike by aggrieved workers will end in few days time, because government has met virtually all the demands of ASUU.
But ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi and ASUP President, Usman Dutse agreed that certain agreement was reached with the government in their recent meetings but the suspension of the strike depends on outcome of the meeting of their respective National Executive Council (NEC).
They however ruled out possible suspension of the strike as quickly as the minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu had predicted.
Initial reports from government quarters had indicated that academic and social activities might return in government owned universities and polytechnics as the aggrieved academic staff that had been on strike since last year are expected to return to classroom this week.
This followed the statement and assurance by Federal Government that it has resolved the issues that forced the workers to down tool in the first place.
The Minister of Education however thanked the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) for calling off the strike to allow students return to classroom and continue their academic work, adding that, “Government will reciprocate this gesture by fulfilling all terms of agreement reached with COEASU.”
The Minister was optimistic that the umbrella body of academic staff in universities (ASUU) and polytechnic (ASUP) will follow the footsteps of (COEASU) to call off theirs too for the benefit of students whose academic programmes have been interrupted.
Adamu said: “For ASUP, we have resolved virtually all issues they presented to us. In particular, we have reached agreement on the review of Polytechnic Act, revitalization of polytechnics and colleges of education, allowances and shortfalls, renegotiation of the 2010 agreements amongst others.”
Similarly, Adamu said that Government team has also reached agreement with ASUU, with a hope that they would suspend the strike so that academic activities could resume in Universities campuses across Nigeria without further delay.
In another development, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has pledged to end the lingering strike by university lecturers in the country, from his first day at work, if elected the next president of the country.
The presidential candidate made this disclosure in Lagos, Sunday evening, at the Silverbird Man of the Year event.
According to Atiku, the industrial action which has denied university students in the country access to education for a period running into four months is disgraceful and thus will receive his first attention as president if voted into office in the February 16 presidential election.
“I am aghast that as I speak, our students across the nation are not being educated due to the ASUU strike caused by an unresolved debate of about N60billion.
“If I get the job I am seeking, my first task on day one – along with naming my cabinet – will be to end this disgraceful strike and get our students back to their studies.”
In his remarks, the presidential candidate observed that education plays a pivotal role in the rise to success of any individual or nation and hints further that if he becomes the next president of Nigeria, his administration will increase the budgetary allocation to education in triple fold from the current 7 per cent to not less than 20 per cent.
According to Atiku, “I will also triple the amount the Nigerian Government spends on education from 7 per cent of its budget today, not just to the 15 per cent recommended by UNESCO, but to 20 per cent.
“I recognize the value education can bring to the individual and the nation. But even more than that, I want every child in Nigeria to have the opportunities I had.”
Meanwhile the Federal Government, said at the weekend, that it has made over N727 billion worth of investment in public tertiary institutions in Nigeria in the last four years.
It said that bulk of the investment was done through the instrumentality of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), NEEDS assessment, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and it covered critical areas of infrastructural development, project maintenance, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support, entrepreneurship, library development and special high impact projects, academic staff training and development, research and several others that fall within their mandate.
A breakdown of the spending indicated that; In 2015, N24.9 billion was disbursed to 74 public universities in Nigeria (Federal and States), and each institution received N337 million.
In 2016, N74 billion was shared to same institutions and each got N1 billion. In 2017, N48 billion was made available for disbursement, and each university got N659 million. N58 billion was equally disbursed in 2018 and each university received N785 million. In total, N205 billion was allocated to public universities in the past four years (2015 to 2018).
As regards Polytechnics, government said that each of the 54 public polytechnics in Nigeria got N250 million in 2015, amounting to N12.5 billion. N691million was disbursed to same institutions in 2016, amounting to N37.3 billion.
In 2017, they got N450.8 million each, totalling N24.3 billion and in 2018, they received N536 million each, amounting to N28.9 billion. Summarily, the 54 public polytechnics in Nigeria received N103 billion in the last four years.
For Colleges of Education, N101.6 billion was said to have been disbursed in the last four years. The breakdown shows that government owned colleges of education got N12 billion in 2015, N37 billion in 2016, N23 billion in 2017, and N28 billion in 2018.
Minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja, that Federal Government was seriously concerned about lack of accountability in some of the tertiary institutions.
In another development, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has pledged to end the lingering strike by university lecturers in the country, from his first day at work, if elected the next president of the country.
The presidential candidate made this disclosure in Lagos, Sunday evening, at the Silverbird Man of the Year event.
According to Atiku, the industrial action which has denied university students in the country access to education for a period running into four months is disgraceful and thus will receive his first attention as president if voted into office in the February 16 presidential election.
“I am aghast that as I speak, our students across the nation are not being educated due to the ASUU strike caused by an unresolved debate of about N60billion.
“If I get the job I am seeking, my first task on day one – along with naming my cabinet – will be to end this disgraceful strike and get our students back to their studies.”
In his remarks, the presidential candidate observed that education plays a pivotal role in the rise to success of any individual or nation and hints further that if he becomes the next president of Nigeria, his administration will increase the budgetary allocation to education in triple fold from the current 7 per cent to not less than 20 per cent.
According to Atiku, “I will also triple the amount the Nigerian Government spends on education from 7 per cent of its budget today, not just to the 15 per cent recommended by UNESCO, but to 20 per cent.
“I recognize the value education can bring to the individual and the nation. But even more than that, I want every child in Nigeria to have the opportunities I had.”