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From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ebonyi State University Chapter, Dr. Ikechukwu Igwenyi, has declared that universities owned by state governments in Nigeria cannot survive without being part of the Union.
Igwenyi who restated that the local chapter of ASUU had not pulled out of the ongoing strike ordered by the national body of the Union. He explained that state government-owned universities needed ASUU for intervention and other assistance.
According to him, 98 per cent of what the universities enjoyed today came from the ASUU struggle and through the intervention of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
“That rumour going on that some state universities want to break up from the ongoing industrial action by the ASUU is baseless. If any university tries it, such institution will still run back to ASUU because 98 per cent of the structures and equipment being enjoyed today in all the state universities are courtesy of the TETFUND and NEEDS Assessment via the ASUU struggle,” he said.
“There are many universities that have tried it before now to separate themselves from ASUU, but it didn’t work out. Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Ilorin tried it before but later ran back to its source of livelihood which is ASUU.
“Yes, people said EBSU is in session. But it’s lie. The authorities did that to deceive the students, so that those students can come and pay school fees for them (the authorities) to pay salaries. But after that, those students were left to their own fate. We didn’t pull out of the strike. We are still part of it and it’s still ongoing.
“And no state government in Nigeria pays 100 per cent of the workers’ salaries.
Instead, workers’ salaries come mostly from the Internally Generated Revenue of the school,” Igwenyi explained.
