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The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has decried the refusal of the Federal Government to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The group, in a statement signed by the deputy national coordinator, Ogunjimi Ayobami, and national mobilization officer, Adaramoye Michael, said the non-implementation of the union’s demands led to the extension of the strike to a total and comprehensive indefinite strike.
“For us in the ERC, there is nowhere to drop the blame for the extension of this strike other than the doorstep of the Buhuri administration that failed to take necessary steps to meet the demands of ASUU.
“This is because no serious government would fold its hands while the doors of universities are shut to millions of its citizens,” the group argued.
According to ERC, the demands of ASUU border on the proper funding of the education sector and the need to adopt the recommended University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of salaries, and better pay for lecturers, among others.
ERC observed that the crisis bedevilling the education sector has deepened, while the necessary facilities to aid teaching and learning are either absent or in decrepit condition.
The group noted that the government’s intimidation tactics like the ‘no work, no pay’ policy and threat to proscribe ASUU are bound to fail, stressing, “the Federal Government has no moral credibility to impose the ‘no work, no pay’ policy because the strike by ASUU from February 14, 2022, was forced on the union due to its persistent violation of previous agreements.
“How can an employer who is the cause of his workers not working lay claim to ‘no work, no pay’? It is simply eating one’s cake and trying to still have it back. If successfully implemented, this will mean that government, in its usual nonchalant manner can continue to throw any agreement with unions into the dustbin.’’
ERC stated that the Buhari government further provoked the extension of the strike by deliberately violating the principle of collective bargaining with its arbitrary imposition of a paltry salary award, something it has been peddling as a fulfillment of the demands of the ASUU.
The group said that based on the inability of the government to address the demands, it called on the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to declare a 48-hour warning general strike and nationwide mass protest, noting, “this will send a clear note of warning that ASUU is not alone.’’
In a related development, ERC condemned the Asefon-led leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for its support of the dubious no-work, no-pay policy that the government is trying to force down the throat of ASUU.
“The Asefon leadership has made no attempt to mobilize students for action to force the government to accede to the demands of ASUU swiftly. Even when students took independent initiative of mass protest, the Asefon leadership alienated itself from the mass of students,’’ ERC observed.
