The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a fresh 14-day ultimatum of nationwide strike, saying lecturers are hungry and angry.
This is even as the Owerri Zone of ASUU called on Governors Hope Uzodimma of Imo and Professor Charles Soludo of Anambra states to show more commitment in the welfare of lecturers at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University and the Imo State University, for the good of all.
Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Owerri, Dennis Aribodor made the call while addressing a press conference in Owerri, the Imo state capital.
The zone comprises of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, both in Anambra state, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State University Owerri, both in Imo state, and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike in Ebonyi state.
According to ASUU, the 14 days extension was to enable the government seize the opportunity to nip the looming crisis in the bud to avert another industrial crisis in public universities.
Aribodor maintained that ASUU did not subscribe to government's claim of insufficient funds in addressing the issues before it, rather attributing the challenges to lack of political will.
"Information available to ASUU does not support government's claims of insufficient funds, but points squarely to deficit of political will. The substantial inflows from subsidy removal and devaluation of the Naira, translating to the humongous monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements to the three tiers of government make nonsense of the outlandish claims.
"Elementary economics suggests that both Federal and State Governments do not prioritise the welfare and well-being of Nigerian academics; otherwise, the prolonged engagements with ASUU should have yielded fruitful outcomes for stability and industrial harmony in the Nigerian University System," Aribodor said.
He called on the Nigerian people to intervene in the crisis, saying "governments' continued use of empty promises, non-committal attitude, and delay tactics is fanning the embers of crisis in our public university system.
"Lecturers are hungry and angry! Therefore, we call on all well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on governments to address these outstanding issues in line with the African Union's strategy of using the path of quality and accessible education towards realising the AU agenda 2063.
"This is especially as 2024 has been declared the African Union Year of Education. The Nigerian ruling class should stop paying lip service to funding public education, which they benefited from in their days," he added.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
ASUU said government's refusal to address non-monetary issues like removal of universities from IPPIS, despite a presidential directive and a court order was deeply troubling especially as they had provided an alternative, UTAS, as an efficient payment platform.
The issues under contention for seven years 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 and release of unpaid salaries for staff on sabbatical, part time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Other points of dispute include release of outstanding third-party deductions, such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; funding for the revitalisation of public universities and payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) which were both partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget.
ASUU is also impressing it upon the governments to address proliferation of universities by federal and state governments and implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities and University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a replacement for IPPIS.
