FG -ASUU Deal Asuu Began Strike After 351 Letters to FG, 150 Meetings With Officials BY ISA SAIDU, ZARIA, HARUNA GIMBA YAYA AND ISMAIL ADEBAYO, Dailytrust, 10 NOVEMBER 2013 Since September 2009, when the leadership of the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) entered into an agreement with the federal government on funding of universities, the union had written 351 letters and met various government officials at least 150 times to remind government on the need to honour the agreement promise, a source close to ASUU disclosed. It was after all the said efforts had failed to yield results that the union ordered its members to down tools in July, the source added. It is against this backdrop that the leadership of ASUU believed that it is being unfairly treated by both the government and a segment of the Nigerian public, as it has taken all the necessary measures to avoid embarking on the current strike action, but was forced to resort to it owing to alleged governments nonchalant posture, it was gathered.They thought we are stupid and that was why they didnt take us seriously. Between 2009 and last September, we wrote about 351 letters concerning the discussion and we met with government officials for not less than 150 times. This is why even some of our colleagues were skeptical, thinking that we have compromised the 2009 agreement, our source said. The source also said ASUU usually always took many things into consideration before embarking on strike. It is not as people think that we just embark on strike for improvement of our salaries and allowances. These people thought that we are stupid and that is why we always embark on strike, forgetting that about 70 per cent of our members are always affected by ASUU strikes because they are also pursuing their second or third degrees. What we are doing is about the system that is collapsing, and the federal governments NEEDS Assessment report has vindicated our position. On their own, they set up a committee to verify this decay that we are talking about, thinking that we are exaggerating this decay in our universities. Government selected its people and a representative from us. The committee vindicated us in their report, saying that what ASUU is saying about decay in Nigerian universities is true. What they saw during their work as a federal government committee was 1,000 times higher than how ASUU is putting it, the source said. The source, who did not want to disclose what President Goodluck Jonathan has offered the union in order to pacify them to end their ongoing strike at their last meeting with the federal government, however, said that the meeting with the president centred around the 2009 agreement.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 22:33:08 +0000
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