The Senate on its part appealed to ASUU to call off the strike, blaming
government negotiators for being ignorant by signing an agreement that
could not be implemented.
Similarly, Committee of Vice Chancellors and Registrars of private
universities in Nigeria said it had commenced moves to wade into the
face-off with a view to ending the strike.
Mr. Wike said Tuesday that the face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU would be resolved in few months.
Reacting, however, ASUU leaders argued that the strike could end in
next few days and not months if only the Federal Government had the
political will to implement the 2009 agreement it made with the union.
The Chairman of ASUU Chapter of the Niger Delta University, Dr. Beke
Sese told Vanguard: “We were surprised when we heard the comment,
because we believe that the strike can end in 24 or 48 hours if the
government has the political will to do it.
“It is not that we want the strike to go on much longer, but the issues on ground are more pertinent than days or weeks.”
Dr. Adesola Nassir, the chairman ASUU, Ibadan zone said the only way
the minister’s assertion could hold water was if the Federal Government
was ready to honour the agreement it had with the union in 2009.
Nassir said: “My only guess is that the supervising Minister of
Education and the Federal Government must be ready to do what is right
and implement the 2009 agreement, because that is the only solution to
bring an end to the strike.
“All we have seen from the government in our different meetings is
begging; government begging us to keep patching up the education sector
so we can continue to churn out half-baked graduates as a result of lack
of infrastructure.
The Education Rights Campaign, ERC, however, lamented that the
Minister’s statement showed that the Federal Government was unserious
about ending the strike.
The ERC National Coordinator, Mr. Hassan Soweto said: “The Government
does not seem to mind leaving the education system shut down for a few
more months. We believe that if the government is sincere, this strike
can end in the next few days.”
Insinuations
On his part, Prof. Lai Oso, Dean, Adebola Adegunwa School of
Communication of Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, dismissed
insinuations that government had shown enough commitment for ASUU to
call off the strike, arguing that it was only deceiving the world.
He said: “What kind of commitment has government shown for ASUU to call
back its members to work. Government has not done anything different.
Has it injected more funds to universities or has it honestly met the
agreement it willingly signed with ASUU since 2009? So, it’s the same
old story, and government must stop deceiving the world that it has
shown enough commitment.”
Meanwhile, Senate President, David Mark, yesterday, blamed those who
represented the Federal Government in negotiating with ASUU, in the
contentious 2009 agreement signed by both parties, saying that the
university lecturers took advantage of the ignorance of government
representatives on the matter.
The Senate in a resolution after the motion on appeal to ASUU to call
off the strike and return to work moved by the Senate Leader, Chief
Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, and supported by 106 senators also mandated the
Senate President and Chairman, National Assembly, David Mark to engage
President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of ASUU for amicable
resolution of the crisis.
It further mandated the Committee on Education to liaise with the
Federal Ministry of Education, the National University Commission, NUC,
ASUU and all other relevant stakeholders to proffer lasting solution to
stem further strikes in the education sector.
The Senate President who described the motion as very important, said:
“I will like to say that as long as we can continue the dialogue we will
find a lasting solution.”
“The essence of this motion is to find a solution and a way forward.
There are immediate problems that we need to tackle, all the parties
involved need to sort things out. My personal appeal on behalf of the
Senate to all the parties involved will be that they should try to show
understanding.
“Let us shift ground in our understanding of the problem and finding a
solution because if all the parties involved just dig in and they say
they won’t shift ground then there will be no solution to it and Nigeria
will be worse off for it, whether it is the executive, the legislature
or the judiciary or ASUU
“Not shifting ground is not going to help us to find a lasting solution to the problem.”
Similarly, Committee of Vice Chancellors and Registrars of private
universities in Nigeria said it had begun moves to wade into the
on-going face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU with a view
to ending the strike.
Chairman of the association who is also Vice Chancellor of Bells
University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, Professor Adebayo Adeyemi
stated this, yesterday, during the announcement of the institution’s
fifth convocation.
Embarrassment
Prof. Adeyemi who described the four-month-old strike as a national
problem, denied that the private universities were benefitting from
the on-going impasse. He said: “The development is a national
embarrassment which nobody is proud of.”
He, however, said, the decision to wade into the crisis was not
connected with the recent threat by the National Association of Nigerian
Students, NANS, to shut down private universities over the crisis.
“It is quite beyond us, but, whatever we are doing, we are doing it
silently; we are trying to reach to some individuals to resolve the
crisis.
“It is true that the students have made the statement, but, I think it was made out of annoyance .
“Our intention is, however, not connected with their threat. It is
just that the situation is an ill wind that blows nobody good.”
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