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–Pix(above): Jubilant students
It was jubilation unlimited among Nigerian university students population, yesterday, when the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) announced it would suspend its eight-month-old strike in a matter of days, following the intervention of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly.
ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, briefed the union in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said, “For the first time, we have seen light at the end of the tunnel.”
The State Online reports that ASUU had since February 14, 2022, shut down all federal universities in the country to demand total implementation of agreements it had entered into with the Federal Government a few years ago.
Some of the things being agitated for include; the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, release of earned allowances for university lecturers, and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), of which the government had agreed to inject a total of N1.3 trillion into public universities, both state and federal, in six tranches, starting in 2013 after the union decried the deplorable state of the institutions.
In 2013, it allegedly released N200 billion and promised to release N220 billion each year for another five years. It, however, reneged after releasing the first tranche, and stopped releasing the funds. In 2017, it, however, released N20 billion. In 2020, it promised to release N25 billion, but ASUU rejected the offer, insisting on N110 billion, being 50 percent of the N220 billion that it then demanded, but the government declined, citing paucity of funds.
Amazingly, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, on August 22, 2022, claimed that the government had resolved most of the demands of ASUU, after releasing N50 billion for the payment of earned allowances for universities’ academic and non-academic staff.
Pursuant to this, the strike lingered on and the FG refused to shift ground, and instead, dragged the union to the National Industrial Court, asking the court to order the lecturer back to class. The National Industrial Court subsequently, ordered the union to go back to classroom as negotiations continue. This was further re-ordered by the Appeal Court, thus leaving the union in a quagmire, until Gbajabiamila’s intervention.
Gbajabiamila, who waded into the crisis recently due to the plight of Nigerian students, said on Monday during the briefing that the 8-month-old strike would end “in matter of days.”
It was gathered that President Buhari would be meeting with ASUU stakeholders on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, after which the strike suspension may be made open.
Indeed, demonstration of use of executive power actively played out during the FG-ASUU face off, with Federal Government moving to deregister ASUU and recognizing the union’s splinter group, Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and another, the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).
Meanwhile, before the anticipated formal announcement of the strike’s call-off, the student population is already abuzz with the good news of going back to the class.
Edward Iorchia of Benue State University, BSU, said: “Finally, God has defeated the devil that said I will not graduate. I am already preparing for lectures because I know this cannot just be a social media kite in the air as usual. It can only be real. We have heard from different sources, including ASUU, that the strike will end this week. I am so happy right now.
“My lecturer even called me to confirm this. I have seen hell in the last few months. Lots of things went down but thank God for life.”
Kenechi Ibeanu of University of Jos: “May God soften the heart of Pharaoh that may want to put another clog in the wheel of this last-minute effort to get us back to class. If I tell you what I’ve been going through all this while, you will not only tell me ‘sorry,’ you will definitely pity me.
Joyce Okonofua of University of Abuja: “It is well, all that starts well ends well. This strike has made me spend nearly five years in a course that requires only four years. All the time, I look at my struggling parents who lament more than me and say; Dear Ma, Dear Sir, please be patient, your efforts in sending your only daughter to school will not be in vain. God will surely make it possible for me to graduate, and you’ll begin to reap the fruits of your labour…and the time has come. Praise Master Jesus. Halleluya!/SHARE THIS