University Campus • Union alleges intimidatio, infiltration of rank
Toba Suleiman and Omon-Julius Onabu Believing that the prolonged
strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has
paralysed studies in public universities in the country is being
sustained because the children of influential people in the country
are ensconced in the private universities, some members of the
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) are already
contemplating attack on the private universities as a way of
compelling the federal government to take a more urgent action in
resolving the stalemate between ASUU and the government. The students,
operating under the umbrella of the NANS also staged a peaceful
protest in Ado- Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, to register their
displeasure over federal government's alleged insincerity. Speaking at
the gathering Thursday, Mr. Steven Adara, a student leader in Ekiti
State University (EKSU), noted that those in government and some
prominent Nigerians were not helping the matter, as they were in the
habit of sending their sons and daughters to private schools and
overseas. "We will mobilise ourselves and ensure that we disrupt
academic activities in most of the private schools, because it is the
sons and daughters of the affluent that are in these schools," he
said. Armed with placards with various inscriptions, the students
flayed the federal government for its failure to honour the agreement
it had with ASUU since 2009, saying agreements were expected to be
honoured in good faith. The students expressed their displeasure to
what they described as a continuous recession in the standard of
education since Dr . Goodluck Jonathan emerged as the president of the
country. Speaking on behalf of the students, Mr. Asefon Sunday, the
Director of Action and Mobilisation, NANS, South -west pointed out
that between 2000 and 2011 that the Nigerian government earned about
N48.48 trillion from the sale of oil alone against N3.10 trillion
earned between 1979 and 1999. He added that the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS) in 2012 financial year alone realised the sum of N5.12
trillion as revenue generated from tax paid by the masses. "With this
tremendous upswing in the revenue at the disposal of the federal
government, one would have expected such to translate to commensurate
improvement in the quality of Nigeria's public education as well as
other social services. He further condemned the inability of the
federal government to budget a reasonable amount of money to education
sector as recommended by UNESCO which is 26 percent of the country's
total budget. Asefon noted that some countries with smaller Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) like Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Morocco and
Botswana had their budgetary allocations to education sector.
According to him, the allocation to education has been oscillating
between 31 per cent, 20 per cent, 23 per cent, 17.7 per cent and 19
per cent, 8.5 per cent in recent years. . The students equally urged
the state universities like Ekiti State University (EKSU), Lagos State
University (LASU), Osun State University,Olabisi Onabanjo University
to slash their school fees immediately. Meanwhile, the ASUU has
accused the federal government of resorting to acts of intimidation
and blackmail in its efforts to frustrate and break the ranks of the
country's universities' academic staff, whose indefinite strike was
over eight weeks old. This is even as ASUU vowed to deal with
blacklegs that could emerge among its members who the government might
recruit in its alleged desperate effort to divide the union and
intimidate it into abandoning the ongoing nation-wide industrial
action. In a joint statement presented by its zonal coordinator, of
the Benin Zone of ASUU, Dr. Sunny O. Ighalo, said: "The strike has
indeed moved into a critical phase where government is now applying
the instrument of intimidation and blackmail and other gimmicks to
undermine the struggle. "The purported disbursement of the N130
billion to universities arising from the meeting of Pro- Chancellors
and Vice-Chancellors was aimed at breaking our ranks and is not
acceptable to our union." It noted that Nigeria was rich enough to
afford what the union asked for based on the universities' 'Needs
Assessment Report', which actually put the financial resources
required to overhaul the nation's university system at N1.5 trillion.
"We believe Nigeria has the resources needed to revitalise our
universities and save the nation the disgrace of having to send our
children to less endowed countries for university education." "While
N500 billion minimum is expected, going by the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) of January 2012 for the revitalisation of
universities, government claimed that it distributed N100 billion (20
per cent) to the universities," it further said. The body noted that
it would not compromise on the indefinite strike, saying "the federal
government should demonstrate integrity" and honour to the letter the
agreement it entered into without duress. "What makes a person or an
organisation - including governments - honourable is honouring an
agreement freely made". The union leaders swore to continue the strike
and advised the federal government to consider returning to the
negotiation table with ASUU on how to fulfill the extant agreement
signed between it and the union. Tags: News, Nigeria, Featured, ASUU
STRIKE, Students, Private Universities
ASUU Strike: Students Threaten Clamp down on Private Universities
