Varsities: Crisis looms as ASUU insists on 2009 agreementC

Culled from : Punch Newspaper

Academic Staff Union of Universities is set for another showdown with the Federal Government for not implementing the agreement they both reached in 2009. President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, at a press conference in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State after the ASUU National Executive Council Meeting the government should honour its part of the agreement to avoid another round of crisis in public universities. Awuzie said, “The 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement which was aimed at addressing the problem, of brain drain and rot in the system through massive funding is being implemented in a breach. “Considering that the renegotiating of the 2009 agreement is due in June 2012. Not concluding the process and /or releasing the relevant fund for development before this time may lead to crisis of confidence, and further deterioration of the system.” According to Awuzie, despite ASUU’s insistence that the retirement age of professors be increased to 70 years, the FG has yet to sign it into law. He explained that although the House of Representatives and the Senate passed this into law, President Goodluck Jonathan had yet to sign it. The ASUU boss said the body in the past used strike option when pushed to the wall but insisted that such strikes were not aimed to only fight for salary increment but also to combat the rot in the education system. He regretted the state of public universities, saying this had been confirmed by the team constituted by the government. Awuzie said the assessment committee during its visit to one of the universities, discovered overcrowding in many hostels. He said, “Some hostels are worse than a pig pen. At a university, it was discovered that a room meant for four students accommodates 16 students. “These 16 students have 12 kerosene stoves burning at the same time. They have more than enough carbon monoxide in that room to kill all of them. “This is part of what we are saying. A university must be a university indeed. Parents also have role to play, you don’t just give your children money and assume all is well. Go to their schools and check where they live many of you will be shocked.” Awuzie also lamented the high level corruption in the country, saying the conviction of former Delta State Governor James Ibori was a welcome development. It said the nation’s judiciary needed to be purged and strengthened to fight corruption while urging the anti-graft agencies to redouble their efforts at curbing it. The union also called for the prosecution of all those indicted by the House of Representatives Committee report on subsidy. He said that it was now obvious to everybody that the so called subsidy was paid to some corrupt persons and government officials. He said, “ASUU NEC considered the report of the ad hoc committee of the house of Representatives and condemns the misappropriation/ outright stealing of the sum of N1.06 trillion by oil firms and government officials between 2009 and 2011. “The illegal payment of this huge amount was made to the NNPC and 126 firms and marketers as so-called subsidy for inflated fuel imports or outright false claims for products that were not imported at all.”