The Lagos State Zonal Coordinator of the union, Prof.
Adelaja Odukoya, who briefed journalists yesterday, called on the federal
government to go through the document of the agreement signed with the union,
saying failure to do so may force ASUU to embark on another strike.
The agreements according to the union included the
implementation of the renegotiated 2009 ASUU/ FGN agreement, approval of the
deployment of UTAS as a payment platform, as well as funding of state universities
yet to get the desired attention from owner government and visitors to those
universities.
According to him, “they (government) should let us know if
they have any problem on the agreement signed and if there are issues, we will
sit down on the round table and resolve the issues. As we speak, the federal
government has adamantly done nothing to ensure that the renegotiation
agreement is signed and implemented.
“We are perplexed that the states and federal government are
not responding to our consistent appeal or listening to bring about genuine
transformation by highly motivated human capital in the education sector for
our university system.
“Embarking on strike is not in our character nor is it in
our nature, however, our union should not be pushed to the wall, we only go on
strike as a last resort. We are in a position where the government is not doing
the needful.”
He expressed concern about the neglect of conditions of
service of academics saying lecturers have made sacrifices over the years than
any other segment of the society to ensure that universities in the country
were globally competitive, “but despite that, they are poorly remunerated.”
“We are producing lecturers and manpower for other parts of
the world so we must be paid remuneration that are globally competitive. We are
calling on all Nigerians to prevail on the federal government to do the
needful, “he said.
Emphasising on the issue of IPPIS, Odukoya alleged that the
Accountant General of the federation seemed to have made a business of it,
saying that those found culpable in fraudulent practice, should be arrested by
the EFCC.
On the funding of state and federal universities, the zonal
coordinator said politicians are interested in creating new universities as
constituency project rather than funding existing ones, adding that academics
are underpaid.
“We say this must stop. Go to several of our universities,
particularly our state universities, they are TETfund universities because the
state government has nothing doing there. They don’t even fund them. Our union
has continued to bring up issues about the governance of our universities
because it forms part of our professional and moral responsibility,” the don
stressed.
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