ASUU

By Muhammad Aminu

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-West Zone, has said it would join the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in protest to pressurise the federal government to end the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

In a statement issued by NANS Coordinator and Public Relations Officer Adegboye Olatunji and Awoyinfa Opeoluwa, which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday.

The NLC had earlier vowed to embark on a nationwide protest on July 26 and 27 in solidarity with the trade unions in the Nigerian public universities and others.

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who made the disclosure in a circular jointly signed by Mr Emmanuel Ugboaja, General Secretary of the Congress, on Sunday, said the protest was in line with the decisions of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NLC on June 30.

ASUU and other trade unions in the education sector have been on strike for over five months over the alleged failure of the Federal Government to keep to the agreement entered with the unions.

The demands of the striking workers include issues bordering on funding of universities, salaries, and earned allowances of lecturers.

However, the NANS leadership in the South-West zone called on students across the country to join the NLC in the nationwide protest in solidarity with ASUU.

NANS added that it would “not keep silent and watch our future being ruined by the prolonged ASUU strike.”

It stated: “It is timely and urgent to issue this statement today with a view to putting an end to the lingering strike action by ASUU. We want a total reformation of the educational sector.

“The Leadership of NANS, Zone D, has taken it upon herself to categorically stand against the dilapidated state of the educational sector in Nigeria.

“We are at a time when Nigerian students have lost hope and do not know what’s next on the radar. ASUU strike has been on for over five months without any hope of resumption.

“We have also waited for so long to see if the Federal Government will dance to the music of Nigerian students who have been clamouring for an end to the ASUU strike, but the reverse is the case.

“We’ve had several press conferences, granted several interviews, held several meetings to plead with both ASUU and the Federal Government, and held several peaceful protests across the Federation.

“According to the commandment of solidarity, we’re on the last ‘Cs of Aluta,’ which is confrontation. This is the time to call on all Nigerian students across all zones to join the NLC in solidarity to end the ASUU strike on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, and Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Nigerian students are tired of the long overdue strike action.

“Consequently, all NANS cadres and stakeholders, zonal leadership, Campus Committee Chairmen, Student Union Government presidents, Nigerian students, and the general public are hereby put on high notice to mobilise, organise and get prepared to be part of the movement,” NANS said

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly intervened in the ongoing impasse between the  Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Federal Government. 

Presidential Spokesperson Femi Adesina posted on Facebook on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, that the president was in consultation with ministers and government officials over the lingering ASUU strike.

“President Buhari in consultation with Ministers and other Government Officials over [the] lingering ASUU Strike in [the] State House on 19th July 2022”, Mr Adesina posted. 

In attendance in the meeting with the president were the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; the Chairman of National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Ekpo Nta, and the Director-General Budget Office, Ben Akabueze.

Sources in the presidency confirmed that the president had directed the Minister of Education to resolve the industrial crisis within two weeks.

It can be recalled that ASUU embarked on strike on February 14, 2022, which has crippled the academic and commercial activities in all the Nigerian universities.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The National Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a nationwide protest 26/7 of July in solidarity with the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The union has been on a strike since February 14th, 2022, over the government failure to meet their demands.

The Daily Reality recalls that the issues are bordering on funding universities, as well as on salaries and allowances of lecturers.

The NLC president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in a statement jointly signed with his secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, disclosed that the protest aimed at getting the university students back to school.

The statement read, “we bring you fraternal greetings from the national secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),” the letter read.

“In line with the decisions of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Nigeria Labour Congress held on the 30th of June 2022, we have scheduled as follows the National Days of Protest to get our children back to school and support our unions in Nigeria’s public universities fighting for quality education.

“Dates: Tuesday, 26th July 2022 and Wednesday, 27th July 2022.

“Venue: All the State Capitals of the Federation and Abuja the Federal Capital Territory. Take off Point: NLC State Secretariats and the Labour House, Abuja

“You are requested to immediately convene the meetings of your SAC to disseminate this information and to fully mobilize workers in the states for this very important protest for good governance,” the statement added.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Reports from different sources have indicated that negotiations between the federal government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been completed.

Meanwhile, ASUU awaits reports from the federal government to decide the fate of many promising students in the country.

However, demands of the union were made through a committee set up by the government to negotiate with it. The committee was reportedly headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs.

Speaking, the ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, stated that the union had done its best in the circumstance.

He added, “we have made our presentations to the committee, and there is nothing more to add.”

By Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi, PhD

Hello, my dear comrade friends! How are you and your families? I hope we are forging and managing well. I know we are well, but not very well. This is because I know that there are so many challenges in and out there. I know most of us are currently swimming and still smiling in heavy debts, ranging from debts of Maggi, Omo, Bread, Garri, etc. Even the ‘Yan garuwa (water vendors) owe many among us a considerable amount of money due to the brutal nature of our looters. This is not to talk about heavy loans accrued due to a lack of salaries for about four months.

The Maikantis (petty traders) selling raw rice, beans and other groceries no longer want to see us by their doors. Some of us have already forgotten toothpaste and have opted for chewing sticks now to remain clean. Our children have been sent out of school due to non-payment of school fees. Landlords have knocked and banged on the doors of many; we pacified them, and some of them reason with us.

Some of us now live without water and light due to heavy bills accrued. You keep counting the ordeals. I remember how during the whole of Ramadan, with the scorching sun and harsh temperature, lecturers languished with dry pockets and no salaries. Many lecturers didn’t have a chance to sew new Sallah (Eid) dresses for their kids, not even for themselves. Yet, another Sallah is approaching without any remorse or sense from this lousy government and its handlers.

Before I talk about my three solid pieces of advice to ASUU, let me digress and talk a little about and to those who don’t understand ASUU’s struggle. I don’t in any way exonerate ASUU of all blames and problems. No way! We have our defects. Only the Almighty Allah is perfect.

However, in ASUU’s struggle, ASUU is 80 per cent right. If you talk about the decay within the ranks of the university administration and duties, ASUU also fights that. And it is the sole responsibility of the government to put eyes on the universities and punish anyone found wanting and guilty of any offence. Sex for marks, not attending lectures on time, lack of coordination, dedication and supervision, extorting students, etc., to punish and stop all these and more lie in the hands of sensible governments. I know that it is said that these bad attitudes happen in Nigerian universities, but sometimes they are overblown out of proportion.

I have been in the university community for nearly 20 years, engaging with my teachers and, later, my students. Still, I don’t know a single lecturer in my university involved in such indecent acts and is also known without getting punished. In other words, universities don’t condone such wrongdoings. Also, this is not ASUU’s direct responsibility, but rather, it lies in the hands of the university management and the government.

Our government doesn’t punish anyone, which is why bad people do as they wish everywhere, in the military, the police, lawyers, carpenters, bandits and all. So lack of commitment and corruption in whichever cadre is not ASUU’s fault, but rather, the government. Our governments rarely punish, and when it does, it looks selective and sometimes biased.

The government is so powerful that, if it is sincere, ASUU or anyone cannot shut down a single university, just like that – not even to talk of all universities – for one week without the government taking drastic action and winning over anyone! But due to the government’s insincerity, this is ASUU. So here is the whole country’s population – the lecturers, their wives, children and friends, the students, their parents, children and families, Nigerians and all their well-wishers – all in trouble, but the government doesn’t care.

With all the troubles and disputes in their recent party primary elections, North/South and whatever, they managed, brainstormed, came together, and brought a solution in 2 days. But, of course, this is for their selfish agenda,  huh? So anyway, below are my three candid and sincere pieces of advice for ASUU and all.

First, ASUU members are suffering, but ASUU should NOT call off its strike until it reaches a coherent, logical conclusion. Yes! We are suffering, and we need the strike to the end. But we don’t want a situation where a strike can be called off today, and it comes back in 7 months to come, or even less. Let’s push things to the end. I will even advise the government to agree that no strike can be implemented in the next ten years if anything goes as practically implemented. I don’t support any agreement again.

I never heard of NNPC, CBN or the House of Representatives going on strike! This is because all their entitlements, salaries, allowances and more are paid on time. And they receive more than all Nigerian universities receive, with a quarter of what universities do. A kind of monkey dey work, but baboons chop the money. So they have money more than they need. So, ASUU should not call off the strike until everything is settled.

Second, ASUU should change its style concerning research works. Many civilians out there don’t know that apart from class teachings, university lecturers engage in what is called research. Hence, some people feel we are not entitled to our salaries during strikes. And in reality, the impact of our collective research output is very minimal. Some people don’t even know that we do research, and some of us don’t even do any research at all.

To sustain our research line, let us allow the research activities to continue at full capacity. Here I mean, students writing their research (Undergrads, Masters and PhDs) should be allowed to consult their lecturers online or via any other medium possible. Someone may ask about data and other internet facilities. My answer to such a ridiculous question is; how do you read this write-up? Don’t you have a WhatsApp, Facebook or go online? This is all to maintain and sustain our research inputs and keep going. We shouldn’t allow our brains to rust completely. This chance should be conditional, situational and only if a lecturer has a chance to.

Third and finally, ASUU should continue the strike until things are resolved.

Thank you

Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi

Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria.

By Prof. Abdelmalik Abdelghaffar Amoka

The strike is 14 weeks (1 semester) today and we don’t know how many more weeks we are going to spend at home before getting back to classes. The closure of the universities has afforded us to spend a lot of time on the net, especially on social media, and following the happenings around Nigeria and the rest of the world. It is no more news that primary elections are ongoing in Nigeria and delegates are trending. The best business at the moment is to be a delegate of any of the two major political parties and you make cool millions at the expense of Nigeria. From the State House of Assembly, House of Rep, Senate, Governor, and Presidential ticket of APC or PDP, it is for the highest bidder.

They said Nigeria is broke and can’t fund education but contestants paid so much for nomination and expression of interest forms and are buying delegates to get their party’s ticket to contest to lead Nigerians. They have also budgeted the money to buy votes for the main election. Is Nigeria really poor? Who pays so much to lead a broke organization? While ASUU is on strike because that is the only thing to get the attention of our leaders, the president is traveling around the world, his associates are moving around the country with billions of naira looking for tickets, and the students are at home on Instagram, Facebooking, tweeting, and tiktoking.

You would have expected the students to take their destiny into their hands, but they can’t. They are celebrating the withholding of the salaries of lecturers, queuing behind the politicians looking for tickets, and celebrating the highest bidders that got the ticket. A few weeks ago, the students said there won’t be a primary election in Abuja if the strike is not called off. But PDP just finished its primary election in Abuja in the game of the highest bidder. I actually did not take the threat from our new generation of student leaders serious looking at the “success” of their recent university of the street protest.

With our version of democracy, there will never be money for education, healthcare delivery, and other critical sectors since they have to recover the invested funds to get “elected” with interest. It’s difficult to fight corruption because the foundation of our democracy is corruption. The person expected to fight corruption is fully immersed in corruption. So, how is he going to get the job done?

Somebody once wrote that the government want to give a loan of 1 million naira to students and ASUU was against it. This is the scam. Do you still remember when DISCOs in collaboration with FG came up with electricity bills by bands in 2020? Less than 2 years later, the band on a minimum of 20 electricity per day now gets less than 4 hours electricity per day and no one to complain to and no compensation. That is what will happen to the student’s loan. They will give you the loan which you can’t pay back because there is no job except you the money to buy a job as is currently obtainable. After about 5 years later, the loan will stop and you are stuck with tuition that an average Nigerian parent cannot afford. But why is ASUU even bothering itself with this scam? Why is ASUU thinking for the parents and the general public? We possibly need to start thinking of letting it be and focus on our welfare. Let’s allow the government to introduce tuition and leave that to the public to deal with.

While the government is complaining of no funds for education and our universities are closed for 1 semester and still counting due to a crisis between ASUU and FG over university funding and welfare, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has shortlisted 8,800 applicants for its overseas scholarship programme. This scheme is smoothly going on every year for over 20 years without any complaints. It is budgeted for and no need for a strike to get that done. Our universities are underfunded and we are shipping our limited resources abroad in the name of the overseas scholarship to contribute to the development of universities in Malaysia, the UK, Germany, France, and China through PTDF, TETFund, NITDA, etc.

These scholarship schemes have been on for over 20 years and we are gladly sending more for MSc and PhD abroad every year on public funds while public universities are underfunded and ASUU has to fight, the academic calendar distorted to get a little attention for our public universities. While the scholars on FG scholarship are living a comfortable life abroad, the students in Nigeria’s public universities are studying under pathetic conditions and have to suffer from the frequent ASUU strike.

Sadly, the bond signed by these scholars is just a formality as you don’t have to come back. Even the scholars that came back to the country are frustrated and can’t fit into the system that funded their scholarship as there is no preparation for their return. No provision for a conducive environment to enable them to be productive and train others.

You spent so much money to train scholars every year without any plan for them. If care is not taken, the amount of money spent on these scholarship schemes every year may be close to half of the money being requested for the revitalization of public universities. We are rich enough to keep funding overseas scholarship schemes to train individuals but too poor to properly fund public universities to develop better mass human resources for our system.

Meanwhile, what are the objectives of these scholarship schemes? What is the timeline to achieve it? It is definitely not for life. Has PTDF, TETFund, and NITDA sat down to evaluate how far we have gone and the impact of these schemes so far on the system with respect to the objectives? Where is the report? Haven’t we trained enough manpower to be empowered to train others in our universities in Nigeria? Why can’t we redirect these funds to our universities for these trained scholars to use to train others?

Unfortunately, we are developing individuals and not the system. The scholars are trained for themselves, the delegates’ vote is for the highest bidder, the highest bidder will bribe the voters to win the election, and the winner of the election will go there to help himself and leave the system poor. I watched a video recently where the wife of a governor was sharing 1 million naira each to her security staff. Where did she get the money from? State resources? She is not known for any business. Teachers in that same state are paid 17% of their salary. They don’t care what happens to public schools at all levels.

Dear Nigerians, as the delegates that you sent for the primary elections, are happily enjoying the money they were paid for their vote and you are celebrating the highest bidder that got the ticket and mocking those that could not afford to buy the delegates, just know that they have just been paid the money meant for education and other critical sectors. We have lost the moral right to complain about corruption.

Dear students, It is a vicious cycle and it ain’t going to change till we are willing to change it. The lecturers have taken their decisions and they are willing to stay off academic activities for as long as possible with or without salary, till their demands are met. The politicians don’t care that you are at home after all their kids are not in public school. They are bribing their ways to sustain their political and economic dynasty and the delegates are happily collecting it.

Meanwhile, who were the returning officers at the primary elections? Definitely not Professors. Tomorrow you will start blaming ASUU that Professors helped them rig elections. Politicians know how to rig the elections with or without the presence of the Professors that the INEC boss invited. So, use your head when you blame ASUU.

In conclusion, the people that can raise such an amount of money to spend to get political positions can also generate funds to save our universities from collapsing if they so care to lead you. It’s up to you if you want to remain at home, Facebooking, tweeting, tiktoking, and keep watching as the system keeps decaying. The ball is in your court.

Amoka is from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) will commence a two-week warning strike on Monday, May 16, 2022.

According to the ASUP president, Anderson Ezeibe, the decision was borne out of the emergency meeting of the union National Executive Council on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

However, this is coming amidst worries over the extension of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

ASUP decried that the federal government has refused to meet their demand, making it necessary for the union to embark on a strike.

Recall that ASUP has suspended its industrial action declared on the 10th of June, 2021, following the Memorandum of Action (MoA) which the government had signed.

The union said in a statement, “Non-release of arrears of the new minimum wage: The owed 10 months arrears for the Polytechnics is yet to be released. The composite amount covering all Federal Tertiary Institutions to the approximate figure of N19Bn currently exists as an AIE in the Accountant Generals Office.”

“We are deploying this medium to equally appeal to members of the public to prevail on the government to do the needful within the two weeks period so as to avoid an indefinite shutdown of the sector,” the statement added.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Thursday,  April 21, 2022, said the decision to halt the ongoing strike solely lies with the Academic Staff Union of Universities,  ASUU. 

Ngige said this on Channels TV while featuring as a guest in the televised program ‘Politics Today.’

According to Ngige, the time the strike will end is only for ASUU to decide and that it is expected of the Union to decide if they have the student’s best interest at heart. 

On when the strike, which has crippled academic activities in Nigeria’s public universities, will end, the Labour Minister said, “It depends on ASUU. The ball is in their court. They should go and meet the Benimi Briggs Committee and look at what the committee is doing and make further inputs so that work can be accelerated, ” he said

Ngige added that ASUU’s attitude towards the labour crisis is not helping the situation. 

“ASUU has to come down from their high horse. You cannot go and start intimidating people in NITDA and threatening the Minister of Digital Economy and Communication with revocation of his professorship that he is a fake professor. You go to ABU and say you are going to withdraw the certificate of the director of NITDA. That’s bullying. It is not allowed in Labour negotiations,” he stated.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Popularly known as Rema, Nigerian singer, Devine Ikubor, has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to call off its two-month-old strike. 

The 21 years old Afrobeats singer made the appeal on Monday,  April 18, 2022, on Twitter. 

“ASUU, since dem give me admission I neva start school o, e don do nau “, Rema tweeted. 

Rema was reportedly admitted to the University of Lagos in January and has not been able to assume school before the strike’s commencement.

ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022. The Federal Government’s failure to implement the 2009 agreement and not accepting the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS, as a payment platform are among the main reasons cited by ASUU for the industrial action.

By Aminu Nuru

As a man of God in power, Pantami has been anticipated to promote justice and fairness to all, doggedness in executing the rule of law and consistent due process while amicably working to advance his ministry. Unfortunately, however, some of his decisions, actions and inactions shatter this goodwill, clearly undermining what he should – or was expected to – represent.

Given the above, it is fair to say that Pantami’s reputation as an ambassador of the faithful and clergies in the corridor of power is being tarnished and marred with shameful inadequacies that are not worthy of emulation. From the onset, it is important to state that some of those rumpuses may not be disassociated with Pantami’s status of being the first Imam of Jumma’a cum notable Islamic cleric to be a member of Nigerian’s apex council of power execution. However, some of them are avoidable if he had approached and dealt with specific issues differently and wisely.

Barely a few weeks after his appointment as Minister, Pantami’s name began to trend in what seemed to be his first scandal in office. Pictures of some luxurious apartments were shared on social media with the allegation that he owns them. Perhaps, other Ministers occupied better, polished and more luxury apartments, but nobody cared to nail them down for their exotic preferences despite being in the same shoes as him. This should tell Pantami that his colleagues may be excused and get away with so many other things while he would not. This is obviously because of his antecedents as an Islamic cleric.

One would think this politically-driven furore would be an eye-opener to Pantami and should guide his future decisions and endeavours henceforth; it should dawn on him that things will never be the same for him again; that certain things about his life and that of his family, relatives and even close friends would be twisted and become a source of gossip on the cyberspace from now. Therefore, he should thread carefully

But Pantami appears not to appreciate the complexities of his new reality. If not, why would someone as blessed as Pantami allow his name to linger in a scandal of dubious professorship appointment (promotion) by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri? Let’s assume that the fuss generated by the position is a work of his foes and mischief-makers, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Still, the ensuing controversies are not suitable for his image as an Islamic cleric.

It is such a shame that a man of his calibre would allow his love for title to overshadow his conscience. If I were Sheikh Pantami, I would get rid of this appointment to save what remains of my image. And after my tenure as minister, I will go back to university to become a legit professor, proving my capability to be one. But because of what seems to be an untamed ego, Pantami will not succumb to the voice of ethical and moral principles and do that. On the contrary, he remains adamant and shows no sign of withdrawing the appointment sooner or later.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) opposes the appointment vehemently. But, in what seems to be a reprisal move to frustrate its struggle, NITDA, an agency under Pantami’s ministry, discredited ASUU’s proposal of UTAS. This came after NITDA’s earlier proceedings showed that UTAS passed the integrity test with 93% aggregate.

In another twist, Pantami’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy fails to complete its initiation of NIN-SIM enrolment and verification, which should curtail digital-related crimes in the country. This single policy, if fully executed, will be one of the most significant legacies of Pantami’s stewardship. Yet, just this morning, several media outlets reported that the exercise, which deadline was earlier scheduled to be January 2021, has been extended yet again for the tenth time. Again, this shows weakness and a lack of political will and patriotism.

Before coming to office, nobody would believe that Pantami would be engaged in an unfortunate political twist like this. It is now clear that Pantami is becoming more partisan and a career politician; his status as a strict technocrat in the corridor of power has noticeably changed now. In fact, political moles carrying his posters which bear the inscription “Digital 2023”, were sighted at the just concluded national convention of the All Progress Congress (APC). It will not be a surprise if Pantami contests in the forthcoming general election.

While it is within his constitutional right to do so, he should bear in mind the embodiment of the institution he represents and the challenges ahead. He should know that he is in politics and public service to set, among other things, precedence for others to follow. I hope that he will face, manage and swallow the bitter taste of politics with wisdom, courage and ethical and moral principles. I hope that his decision and indecision will not further generate unfortunate controversies. I hope that he will remain steadfast to his religion while promoting the rule of law, due process and good governance for Nigerians.

Aminu Nuru wrote from Bauchi. He can be contacted via aminuahmednuru@gmail.com.