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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja and Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), yesterday, accused Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, and his counterpart in the education ministry (state), Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, of deceiving Nigerians with false information on lingering industrial dispute with the Federal Government.
At a press conference in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, ASUU coordinator for Owerri Zone, Uzo Onyebinama, accused Ngige and Nwajiuba of lying that agreements had been reached on all contending issues, whereas both parties had failed to reach any deal to end the strike.
“Instead of apologising to Nigerians and hiding their heads in shame on the serial failures of governments, particularly the present government which came on the mantra of change, Chris Ngige and Emeka Nwajiuba have been feeding Nigerians with lies and half truth.
“Ngige and Nwajiuba have on many occasions on various media organizations said that agreement had been reached on virtually all the issues that necessitated the seven months old strike.
“They should please tell Nigerians, who their masters are, those agreements that have been reached and implemented. As far as our union is concerned, no agreement has been reached on any of the demands.
“So instead of constantly running to the press, Ngige and Nwajiuba should sit down and painstakingly do the work that they are paid to do. It is on record that the date given by Ngige to reach our union with government improved position has elapsed without any communication.
“The proposed new timelines for implementation of some proposals, such as appointment of a new team for renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, gazetting of visitation panels, among others, have elapsed without any implementation. This shows the insincerity on the part of government.”
Also, Prof. Theophilus Lagi, ASUU Abuja Zonal Coordinator said there was no hope in sight to the suspension of the strike due to alleged lack of commitment by the Federal Government.
He said members of the union had been advised to seek other legitimate means of survival as government had not released salaries withheld since February, 2020.
Lagi maintained that in spite of agitations with comprehensive and indefinite strike to compel the government to address its core demands, government has not shown any commitment.
He, however, called for the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment and mainstreaming of earned academic allowances into salaries, release of funds for revitalisation of the Nigerian university system, among others.
He condemned the event at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) where the authority allegedly invited the military to assist in the conduct of the 2019/2020 first semester examinations. However, the Federal Government has said despite accepting UTAS proposed by ASUU, the clog in the wheel of implementation was the lack of funds to procure the necessary hardware.
Dr. Ngige, told State House Correspondents in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari that even if government accepted the payment mode for lecturers who have rejected being placed on Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), there was no budgetary provision for the procurement of the UTAS hardware.
He, however, said government had forwarded the UTAS software to the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for integrity test, saying government would not discourage any Nigerian from providing home grown solutions to issues.
Asked if government had shifted grounds on its negotiations with ASUU, Ngige replied: “No, the UTAS, that is the University Transparent System which they brought is not yet ready. It is not fully ready, it is undergoing integrity test for the software. I am not a computer scientist, but you must also know that you must test the hardware in the integrity test for the software.
“As we speak, ASUU has no hardware and UTAS does not have hardware. I am waiting for NITDA full report, but the preliminary report they gave me, the software integrity test will take them about six to eight weeks and thereafter, we go to the hardware. But the big issue is, who will provide the hardware?
“ASUU doesn’t have the finances to do so. Has government budgeted for it now as we speak? So, that is a major problem. But we don’t have to dissuade anybody, we don’t have to tell anybody not to carry on, we like local content development, we need our things to be home grown. So, we are really encouraging them.”
He expressed optimism that once the hardware testing, its capacity, ability to withstand shock and hacking, is concluded, government woul ddecide on the next step to take.
