By Ovat Abeng
The Acadenic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Owerri zone, has accused the Nigeria government of planning to annihilate public universities in favour of the commercialization of university education via private universities owned by politically exposed individuals in the country.
The accusation was contained in a release signed and made available to Journalists shortly after a press conference held at ASUU Secretariat, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Monday, by the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Owerri Zone, Prof Dennis Aribodor.
According to Prof Aribodor, the essence of the press conference is to alert the public of the Federal and State Governments’ continued and consistent ploys to undermine the existence and integrity of the public universities in Nigeria through their systemic neglect, acute under-funding and bastardization of university autonomy leading to the inability of Nigerian universities to compete globally.
“It is also to inform the public on how ASUU in her struggles over the years had engaged previous and present governments with the resolve to prevent universities from the current gradual slide into total collapse.
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“There is no gain saying the fact that Nigeria University system is currently facing the most crucial existential threats occasioned by governments’ total neglect and abandonment.
“It is on this note that ASUU Owerri Zone is crying out through this press conference against governments concerted efforts to annihilate public universities in Nigeria in favour of the commercialization of university education via private universities owned by politically exposed individuals in the country.
“The FGN – ASUU Agreement signed in October, 2009 summed up the four key issues as follows: Conditions of service, Funding, University Autonomy and Academic Freedom and other matters related to regulations, working environment, etc. This agreement was meant to arrest brain drain, attract best brains to the Nigerian University system from across the world and to position Nigerian public universities for global competitiveness.
“It is worrisome to note that this agreement that was designed to be renegotiated after three years (2012) did not start until 6th March, 2017 and is yet to be completed till date (fifteen years after the agreement was signed). Recall that the federal government employed the collective bargaining agreement principle and inaugurated Prof. Munzali Jubril’s Renegotiation Committee in December 2020. The same government jettisoned the report of the Prof. Munzali Jubril’s Committee submitted in May, 2021 and reconstituted the Prof. Nimi Brigg’s Renegotiation Committee to renegotiate the renegotiated report with ASUU. Prof. Brigg’s Committee submitted its report to the federal government but was abandoned by the same federal government through the instrumentality and evil machination of the then Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige. The Tinubu-led Federal Government took over about one year ago and it is surprising that it has not addressed this particular issue of Renegotiation even when officials in the present government intervened during our last struggle. We therefore call for the conclusion of the Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement so as to maintain industrial harmony across Nigeria public universities that house over 95% of Nigerian undergraduates. Gentlemen of the press, recall that the non-signing of Prof Nimi Brigg’s Committee Report of 2022 has left the university lecturers to remain in same salary structure for the past 15 years. This scenario has pauperized Nigeria university workers with meagre take-home pay that cannot actually take them home. The current pay of a Professor at bar is about $500 per month which is a mockery when compared with countries in West Africa not to talk of the entire African continent and the world. Universities are international centres and Nigerian public universities should be seen to be so.The mass exodus (Japa syndrome) of academics from the Nigerian public universities for greener pasture portends a great danger not only to the universities but to the development of Nigeria, and should be urgently arrested.
“Also the federal government under Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee on Needs Assessment of all Nigerian public (federal and state) universities as stepping stone towards revitalization of government-owned universities. The Committee recommended an immediate and massive injection of a total of N1.3 trillion to arrest the infrastructural decay in the institutions. That government commenced the implementation of the recommendations by releasing the first tranche of N200 billion in 2013. Unfortunately since then, only a paltry sum of N50 billion has been released till date by the government. This is unacceptable.
In the case of withheld salaries, gentlemen of the press, you can agree with ASUU that the ILO Conventions guarantees the right of trade unions to use strike action as a means of demanding for what is due to their members.
“The continuous withholding of the three and half months of withheld salaries of lecturers in federal universities and 4-12 months of some lecturers in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) as a result of ASUU national struggle for the revitalization of universities in 2020 and 2022, despite the fact that the lecturers had since completed all their duties affected during the strike is unacceptable and should be urgently addressed.
On the issue of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), it is sad to note that the Federal Government is yet to pay the backlog of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) in federal universities while the Anambra and Imo State Governments have refused to pay EAA to their lecturers in COOU and Imo State University (IMSU), respectively as obtainable in state universities in other parts of the country. The neglect of lecturers in COOU and IMSU is unprecedented. It is heartbreaking that lecturers in COOU who have given their all to the services of the universities retire without pension. They are left to go home and wait for their death. In both COOU and IMSU, the current wage award of 25% and 35% to public university workers, consequential minimum wage increase, palliative for fuel subsidy removal and arrears of CONUASS are yet to receive governments’ attention. Till this moment, the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2020 which provided for mainstreaming of EAA into monthly salaries from is yet to be implemented in the state-owned universities in Anambra and Imo States.
“For the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), despite the Presidential pronouncement and directive for the removal of Universities from IPPIS, the cabals in the Federal Government particularly in the Federal Ministry of Finance who are illegally benefiting from IPPIS have refused to implement the presidential directive. The amputation of salaries of our members has persisted. The outstanding payment of promotion arrears and consequential adjustment in minimum wage remained unattended to. ASUU has continuously rejected IPPIS because it is a corrupt payroll system imposed on the Tertiary Institutions by the Buhari led Administration which grossly violates the Autonomy of our Universities. The Union is worried by the bureaucratic bottlenecks preventing the exit of Tertiary Institutions from the discredited IPPIS. The Union therefore calls on the President to ensure that his directive in this regard is speedily executed. The Visitor to IMSU is called upon to remove IMSU from TSA because it is an aberration and erosion of university autonomy.
“Non-reinstatement of Illegally dissolved governing councils of federal universities and the non-reconstitution of COOU council. All the federal universities in Nigeria were allowed to operate without governing councils for one whole year. Similarly, COOU has been left to operate without Council for over two years. These are unacceptable aberrations, which must be avoided because of illegalities associated with them. It took a NEC resolution to down tools to force the present government to reconstitute new councils in all the federal universities few days ago. The illegal dissolution and delay in reconstitution of governing councils of public universities are fragrant violation of the Laws establishing these universities and erosion of the University Autonomy as enshrined in the Universities Miscellaneous Act of 1993 and 2012. The implication is that all actions taken by the university administrations that fall within the jurisdiction of governing councils within the period are illegal and can be declared a nullity by the courts.
“ASUU Position On Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a Press Release on the 30th June, 2023 vehemently rejected the introduction of Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) in Nigerian Universities describing it as an imposition by National Universities Commission (NUC). ASUU noted that it was inexplicable that the NUC’s pre-packaged 70% CCMAS contents are being imposed on the Nigerian University System leaving University Senates, which are statutorily responsible for Academic programme development, to work on only 30%. ASUU posited that CCMAS portends serious danger to quality University education in Nigeria. It is an erosion of University Autonomy and Academic Freedom which the Union has advocated and struggled to defend over the years. ASUU position has not changed. Therefore CCMAS remains rejected by ASUU and its imposition should be resisted by the various university Senates whose function is directly being taken away by NUC.
“Promotion in IMSU, one of the pressing issues in Imo State University is the phenomenon of promotion without financial benefits since 2016. Staff members are left in a predicament where their new rank does not translate into corresponding salary adjustments. This results in highly qualified academics, who have dutifully completed the required three-year promotion cycles, get promoted but continue to receive lower salary despite being promoted to higher ranks. For instance, Senior Lecturers promoted to Readers and through to Professors continue to receive the salary of Senior Lecturers, causing significant financial strain and diminishing motivation. The process of promotion itself is marred by undue delays, leaving many staff members in prolonged periods of uncertainty and financial strain. Even when promotions are finally granted, the arrears associated with these advancements remain unpaid, compounding the financial hardships faced by the academic staff.
“Again on the continuous harassment of ASUU members, it is disheartening to note the unending crisis bedeviling some Universities in Nigeria namely, Federal University of Technology (FUTO) Owerri, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Igbariam, Kogi State University (KSU) Ayingba, Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Abakaliki, Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma and others, where our members have been subjected to inhuman treatment, harassed, humiliated, salaries withheld, and sack for unjustifiable reasons. ASUU therefore calls on the Visitors and stakeholders to the affected Universities to urgently wade into the situations and reverse such injustices orchestrated by the the Vice Chancellors of the affected Universities to our members. Injury to one is injury to all,” Aribodor concluded.
It was gathered that the ASUU Owerri zone made up of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam (COOU), Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State University Owerri (IMSU), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka (NAU).
