The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, on Tuesday raised the alarm over a plot by the International Monetary Fund, IMF and World Bank to sabotage the interest of public universities in the country.
The assertion was made by the ASUU’s National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, at an event marking the 2024 ASUU’s Heroes Day in Abuja.
Osodeke accused the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund of working relentlessly to destroy Nigeria’s public education system.
The ASUU National President, therefore, lamented the delay in the renegotiation of its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government. He noted that despite several Memoranda of Understanding and Memoranda of Action, the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement was yet to be renegotiated and finalized.
Osodeke regretted that the situation had been further complicated by the enforcement of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, in public universities. This is even after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, announced plans to remove the system from tertiary education institutions.
The ASUU President also expressed concern that the Federal Government was still unjustly withholding the union’s three and a half months’ salaries. This, he said is in addition to arrears of wages, promotions, and the Earned Academic Allowance which remained outstanding.
Speaking further at the event, Osodeke commended ASUU’s members nationwide for their “courageous comradeship and sacrifices to the cause of our union. Which, according to him, will forever resonate with the emancipation of Nigerian public university education and the suffering Nigerian people.”
The National President also used the occasion to announce that the union would be offering PhD grants to some of its members across various public universities in the country.
According to him, the grants, valued at N500,000 per recipient, would be awarded based on a rigorous assessment of proposals by experts in their respective disciplines.
He said, “Comrades, like in the past, this year’s celebration of our heroes also takes place as we continue the struggle to rescue Nigeria’s public universities. From the suffocating clutches of the World Bank and the IMF, whose determination to destroy and bury our public university system has not abated.
“It is rather lamentable that we are still struggling to compel the renegotiation of our 2009 Agreement with the Federal Government. Twelve years after it should have been concluded, and after four rounds of failed negotiations.
“It is most disheartening and egregious that despite the several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Action (MoAs), the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement is yet to be renegotiated and finalized,” he said.
Osodeke, therefore, alleged that at the state level, ASUU members “are still being punished for fighting for the interests of members and the university system.”
“Let me re-emphasize that we stand with our members at Kogi State University and Lagos State University. And also members at the Ebonyi State University, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in their persecution. For their principled support and solidarity in the struggle to defend the soul of public university education in Nigeria.
“As part of our Heroes Day celebration, this year, and in line with the NDC decision, the union will be offering PhD grants to some of our members across various public universities in the country.
“The grants, valued at Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500, 000) per recipient, will be based on the rigorous assessment of their proposals by experts in their respective disciplines.”
ASUU, therefore, used the occasion to honour some of its prominent members. These include Prof T. Uzodinma Nwala; Prof Bright Ekuerhare; Prof Oye Oyediran; Mallam Bashir Kurfi and Prof The Name Ikiddeh.
Also honoured were S.A. Fadipe, Prof Sola Olukunle, Nasir Hussain; Tunde Oduleye; Prof Rasheed Abubakar and Akin Oyebode. Mustapha A. Danesi; A.T. Wins; and Dr Peter Ozo-son also made the honour list.
source: PUNCH
Follow us for more news on our WhatsApp News Channels @
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaC505jB4hdZ5Yx9g82U
