The intervention of the National Assembly in
the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff of
Universities, continued on Monday with
parties engaging in a prolonged dialogue.
As of the time of filing the report, ASUU and
the Federal Government maintained their
respective positions as the meeting went into
a closed-door session.
Chairman of the National Assembly Joint
Committee on Education, Senator Uche
Chukwumerije, urged the union to reduce its
demands to only three - the funding of the
institutions, university autonomy and the
Earned Academic Allowances.
He chided the government for its reluctance
to honour the 2009 agreement which it
signed with the union.
He said the appeal became necessary to
ensure a timely resolution of the ongoing
university strike.
He said, "It is a puzzle to Nigerians that it
has on three occasions required the extreme
action of withdrawal of services by ASUU to
compel the attention of the government to the
necessity of honouring 2009 agreement.
"Why endorse an agreement in the first
instance if you had no intention of honouring
it? Wherein then lies the basis for mutual
trust."
He also bemoaned a situation, he said, ASUU
had become increasingly inclined to a "self
righteous attitude."
He called on both the executive and the
leadership of ASUU to be flexible so as to
reach an amicable settlement.
President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, argued
that the union was not disposed to
renegotiating its 2009 agreement with the
Federal Government, stressing that it had
consistently failed to implement agreements
with ASUU.
He said the highest allocation to the
education sector was 12.87 per cent during
the regime of General Sani Abacha between
1994 – 1996.
He said since 2007 the relative allocation to
education in the national budget was 8.19 in
2010; 6.41 per cent in 2011; 7.95 per cent in
2012; and 8.44 in 2013.
Fagge said, "Government is not sincere.
Government is not interested in addressing
the problems in the education sector."
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