ategory: News Published on Sunday, 01 December 2013 05:01 Written by Isiaka Wakili & Ismail Adebayo Hits: 12 FG v ASUU . FG is repeating what the military did unsuccessfully - Fagge . Govt to review ultimatum to lectures President Goodluck Jonathan says the refusal of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its five-month-old strike after his intervention is undermining his government. Jonathan, who said this at the Bayelsa State Government House, Yenagoa, late Friday night during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state caucus meeting, was reacting to a plea by a former governor of the state, Deprieye Alamieyeseigha, for a re-think on the December 4th deadline given to the union to call off the strike or face sack. Already, armed policemen have been deployed on university campuses to enforce the ultimatum. Alamieyeseigha noted that the same date was fixed for the burial of Professor Festus Iyayi who died recently in a crash involving the convoy of Kogi State Governor Idris Wada. In a telephone interview with our reporter last night, Dr Nasiru Fagge, the National President of ASUU, denied being involved in any subversive activities, saying the body wrote a letter to the president, a reply to which it was still expecting. But the president said yesterday that, not only had ASUU been extreme in its conduct, but the union, by its action also showed that it was no longer a trade union. President Jonathan claimed that government did not give the union one-week ultimatum, saying it was the committee of vice chancellors that took the decision which, he said, the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, only disseminated. According to Jonathan, “What ASUU is doing is no longer trade unionism. I’ve intervened in other labour issues before now. Once I invite them, they respond and after the meeting, they take decision and call off the strike. At times, we don’t even give them a long notice unlike in the case of ASUU that were given four-day notice before the meeting. As you’re meeting to resolve trade disputes, you expect the trade unions to get their officials ready. “What was expected having met with the highest authority in the land for long hours was for ASUU to immediately issue a statement within 12 or latest 24 hours to state their position whether they’re accepting government’s offer or not. And if they’re not accepting, they explain why. “I had the longest meeting with ASUU in my political history. We didn’t start that meeting until around 2 pm and the meeting ended the next day in the early hours of the morning. As far as the government was concerned, all the critical people that should be in a meeting were there. So what else do they want? After that, they didn’t meet until one week despite the fact that they met with the highest authority. It was unfortunate one of them, Iyayi, died. “The way ASUU has conducted the matter shows they’re extreme, and when Iyayi died, they now said the strike was now indefinite. Our children have been at home for over five months. We didn’t give them ultimatum it was the Committee of Vice Chancellors that took that decision, the supervising minister of education only passed on the decision. What ASUU is doing is no longer trade dispute, but subversive action. But like you rightly noted, for us not to be perceived to be insensitive, we’ll consult on the deadline.” However, Dr Fagge said that after ASUU executive’s long-hour meeting with the president, ASUU told Jonathan that it had no powers to call off the strike, and that the executive was going to consult its members across the country before a decision could be taken. “We consulted our members. They said they accepted a, b, c, d and that government should begin to implement the first aspect of the agreement before the end of December, 2013. We also asked that we need an agreement endorsed by government because in 2009 we were given a letter by a Permanent Secretary, which government said it was not aware of. This time around, it’s a permanent secretary that is giving us a letter of the agreement. We said, no, we need government’s endorsement, not another permanent secretary. What’s wrong with that?” On the threat of December 4 ultimatum, ASUU president said, “They are repeating what former Military President Ibrahim Babangida did. But he later rescinded his decision. We’re witnessing the same thing again. But our position is that, we wrote a letter to the president, and we’re expecting his reply, either from him personally or from the Minister of Education.”
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 08:24:57 +0000
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