By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) shut down academic activities on Tuesday and urged the Federal Government to show commitment and renegotiate the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement the union.<\/p>\n
The Union has also rejected the recently launched Federal Government’s loan scheme for university lecturers and other workers in tertiary institutions; ‘Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund’ (TISSF), describing it as a “distraction” and a “snare” aimed at further impoverishing its members.<\/p>\n
The UNIPORT-ASUU made this known on Tuesday at the Union’s Secretary in the Delta Park Campus of the University of Port Harcourt, during a press conference on the lingering impasse between the ASUU and the Federal Government especially regarding the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.<\/p>\n
Chairman, UniPort chapter of ASUU, Prof. Omeh Ngwoke, on behalf of the union explained that issues surrounding the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement have been the cause of the incessant conflicts between the Union and the Federal Government.<\/p>\n
He stated that, “The said agreement, which was reached based on the ILO\u2019s principle of Collective Bargaining (and of course Nigeria is a member of the ILO), was signed in October 2009 following about three months strike action. After signing that agreement, it’s full implementation has been a mirage leading to series of strike actions including those of 2020 and 2022 that lasted for ten and eight months, respectively.”<\/p>\n
The UNIPORT ASUU Chairman regretted that the series of strikes actions by the union over the years have always bordered on the same issues such as: Poor remuneration for academic staff, revitalisation of Nigerian public universities, funding of Nigerian public universities, poor learning and teaching facilities leading to brain drain, university autonomy and academic freedom.<\/p>\n
Others according to him include; Review of the laws governing JAMB, NUC, Non-payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and the imposition of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.<\/p>\n
He added that, “Apart from EAA which has been paid to some extent and a few disbursements made for revitalisation, the rest of the items on the 2009 agreement have remained unattended to. The rot in the system has persisted; the universities are still underfunded; teaching and learning facilities have remained absent or obsolete where they exist at all.<\/p>\n
“The public universities have largely remained anything but autonomous while the idea of academic freedom is actually a joke; the laws governing JAMB and NUC have yet to be reviewed; the touted removal of university workers from IPPIS is more or less a farce as payment still bears the IPPIS mark.”<\/p>\n
Ngwoke decried that lecturers in Nigeria\u2019s Federal Universities have remained the most underpaid in the world, noting that they go home with very low pay after statutory deductions.<\/p>\n
“With the constantly rising inflation in the country, the purchasing power of such salaries has hit an abysmal low.<\/p>\n
“It is from these salaries that individual lectures are expected to cater for their families\u2019 healthcare, feeding, rent, clothing, water supply, transportation, et cetera. The same salaries are the bases for loans including that recently initiated by government – the recently launched Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF).”<\/p>\n
He noted that the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement was supposed to be renegotiated every three years to reflect the prevailing economic realities, but that has been impossible as several renegotiation committees inaugurated by successive administrations couldn’t achieve the desired result, due to government’s shenanigans.<\/p>\n
“Each of them has been marred by either a deliberate reluctance by the government team to get the job done or government\u2019s refusal to sign the final product sequel to implementation.”<\/p>\n
“The government should prioritize addressing the poor remuneration of academic staff and the proliferation of public universities without adequate funding.”<\/p>\n
On why they rejected the Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF), Ngwoke said, it is a deviation from the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, which would improve the purchasing power of lecturers and decrease their reliance on loans.<\/p>\n
He noted that the government could have used the money earmarked for the loan (TISSF) to defray the three and a half months’ salary owed to lecturers.<\/p>\n
He cited several reasons for rejecting the TISSF, saying: “The loan will further impoverish its members, who are already heavily indebted. The loan will incapacitate university-based cooperative societies.<\/p>\n
He also urged the government to take concrete steps to address the union’s demands and improve the welfare of academic staff, warning that the union can no longer guarantee the continued pacification of its hungry and angry members.<\/p>\n
The Union leader urged the Federal Government to use the forthcoming stakeholders meeting on August 28 as a good opportunity to avert industrial disharmony, while calling on all well-meaning Nigerians, including the Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Traditional Institutions, and the National Assembly, to prevail on the government to address the lingering issues.<\/p>\n
They however, commended the Federal Government for the recent 7-year moratorium placed on the establishment of public universities, while expressing disappointment at the licensing of 9 new private universities, bringing the total number to 150.<\/p>\n
Our Correspondent reports that the Union, after the press conference, embarked on a peaceful demonstration within the University campuses displaying placard with different inscriptions such as, “A good government honours agreement, honour the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement” “Pay us our living wages, we deserve it,” “We can no longer afford our children’s school fees,” “Release all outstanding promotion arrears,” among others, to send a strong message to the Federal Government, emphasizing the need for urgent attention to the welfare of academic staff and the plight of tertiary education in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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