The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given the Federal Government (FG) a – 14 – day ultimatum to fully resolve all lingering issues plaguing the country’s public universities to avert looming industrial crisis.
The latest ultimatum which became effective from Monday, September 23, followed the earlier 21-day ultimatum to the Government after its meeting at the University of Ibadan, August, 17 – 18, 2024.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, who disclosed this in a release made available to The Daily Crucible on Wednesday, noted that “the Union should not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony that arise from government’s failure to seize the new opportunity offered by it to nip the looming crisis in the bud.”
According to Osodeke, the issues in contention and requiring full and concrete resolution by the FG to the satisfaction of the Union within the given time frame, include: conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, based on the Nimi Briggs Committee’s Draft Agreement of 2021; release of withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries due to the 2022 strike action; release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions.
Others are: funding for the revitalization of public universities, partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget; payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget; proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments; implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities; illegal dissolution of Governing Councils; and University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a replacement
for IPPIS.
He explained that the 14 – day ultimatum followed the Thursday, September 19, meeting of the leadership of ASUU, where they reviewed the government’s response to their grievances.
Osodeke lamented that the FG’s failure to fully implement them, especially the Memoranda of Understanding/Actions (MOUs/MOAs) arising from the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009, and particularly between 2013 and 2020, had continued to exacerbate crises in the nation’s public universities.
He identified government’s failure to conclude the renegotiation of the FGN-ASUU Agreement, which he noted had lingered for upward of seven (7) years, saying non implementation of the Agreement, had also worsened matters especially with the current economic realities in the country.
According to him, FG’s wage awards should not and cannot replace the finalization of the draft FGN-ASUU Agreement package which was etched on
collective bargaining principles.
The ASUU President described the government’s refusal to address non-monetary issues such as the removal of universities from IPPIS, despite a presidential directive and a court order, as “deeply concerning.”
Osodeke stated, “In view of the foregoing, ASUU resolve to give the Nigerian Government another 14 days, in addition to the earlier 21 days, beginning from Monday, 23rd September 2024 during which all the lingering issues must have been concretely
addressed to the satisfaction of the membership of the union.
“The union should
not be held responsible for any industrial disharmony that arise from government’s failure to seize the new opportunity offered by ASUU to nip the
looming crisis in the bud.”
