Whether or not lecturers in the country’s universities will go on strike over government demands will be decided this weekend at a National Executive Council meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, scheduled for the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Akoka, Lagos.
The Zonal Chairman of the union, Dr. Adelaja Odukoya, revealed this on Tuesday afternoon after a congress of the Lagos Zone of the union, saying the weekend meeting would collate responses from branches and zonal offices on what the union’s next line of action should be to the demands it wants the government to meet.
This comes as the union claims to have been vindicated in its opposition to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, or IPPIS, after a recent report by the Federation’s Auditor General indicted some officials for allegedly committing fraud using the IPPIS.
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As a result, it urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to act quickly and arrest those officials in the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, where IPPIS is based.
“We had no idea we’d need to call you this soon, or even at all, about this issue.”
Because the government is a saboteur, it is critical to educate the public about what is going on.
‘We demand that the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement be signed and implemented.’ The agreement calls for a three-year review.
We went on strike for nine months in 2020 and called it off in December of that year, with the government promising to resolve all issues within six months, but nothing has been done 18 months later.
“It is sad and shameful that the government has positioned itself as a major saboteur when it comes to the welfare of Nigerian academics.”
“If we want our universities to be globally competitive, we must pay our lecturers globally competitive wages and provide world-class facilities,” he said.
The union also slammed state governments for treating universities established as a constituency project with insufficient funding and planning.
“Our union is deeply concerned about the issue of irregular or non-payment of salaries and subventions in state universities.”
The most concerning aspect is that, while visitors to state universities have purposefully refused to fund existing universities, they continue to establish new ones,” the ASUU president stated.
Concerning the use of IPPIS, the union reiterated its call for it to be replaced with the University Transparency and Accountability System, UTAS, claiming that the latter would take into account the university system’s unique characteristics.
Odukoya questioned why President Muhammadu Buhari would not meet with the union’s leadership and get firsthand information from them, instead of relying on aides who had the mindset of slanting reports to suit their personal interests.
