BY: News Peddlers
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of encouraging the lingering strike through "provocative indifference."
Since February 14, ASUU has been at odds with the Federal Government over the failure to pay striking university lecturers who have been on strike. Among other things, the union wants the nation's education system to be revamped.
In a statement issued on Thursday, ASUU President Professor Emmanuel Osodeke blamed the Nigerian government for forcing the lecturers on strike.
Professor Osodeke recalled how the renegotiation committee led by Munzali Jibril submitted the first Draft Agreement in May 2021, but the "government's official response did not come until about a year later."
"The government imposed the ongoing strike action on ASUU and has encouraged it to linger because of its provocative indifference," according to the statement.
"The renegotiation committee led by Munzali Jibril submitted the first Draft Agreement in May 2021, but the government's official response did not come until about a year later!" Again, the "Award" presented by the Nimi Briggs-led Team was presented on a sheet of paper in a take-it-or-leave-it manner. "No serious country in the world treats its scholars in this manner."
As a show of good faith, the ASUU President requested that the Federal Government return to the New Draft Agreement of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Renegotiation Committee, whose work spanned five and a half years.
He stated that the current administration's covert move to abandon the globally practiced principle of collective bargaining had the potential to harm lecturers' psyche and destroy commitment to the university system.
According to ASUU, this is unquestionably detrimental to Nigeria's ambition to become an active participant in the global knowledge industry.
"Rejecting a salary package negotiated through collective bargaining is a repudiation of the government's pronouncements on reversing 'brain drain,'" he added.
"It is common knowledge that, more than in the 1980s and 1990s, Nigerian scholars, particularly in scarce areas such as science and medicine, are migrating in droves to Europe, America, and many parts of Africa such as South Africa, Rwanda, and Ghana, which provide a supportive environment as well as competitive reward systems for intellectual efforts."
"Does the Nigerian government care what happens to public universities in the next five or ten years if the current trend continues?"
SOURCE: CHANNELS