In a bid to weaken the influence of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Federal Government, on Tuesday, registered two unions in the university system.
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of involvement in endemic corruption in the education sector, alleging that corruption in the sector undermines federal government’s investment in education.
Buhari said incessant strikes by unions created the
impression that government was underfunding education.
Speaking at the fourth National Summit on Diminishing
Corruption in the Public Sector, Buhari said corruption from the basic to
tertiary levels of education greatly marred government’s investment in the
sector.
The president made the remarks on a day the federal
government formally registered two new university-based unions – Congress of
Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and National Association of Medical and
Dental Academics (NAMDA).
With the granting of registration to the two unions,
Nigerian universities now have three academic unions, namely ASUU, CONUA, and
NAMDA.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige,
claimed the move would help liberalise the academic sub-sector and allow more
freedom for university workers.
But President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, described
the newly registered associations as an inconsequential collection of
dissidents, whose inordinate ambitions fed the labour minister’s hubris.
Osodeke said Ngige was only being desperate over what was
known to him alone.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi
Gbajabiamila, yesterday, met with Buhari as part of efforts to resolve the
on-going strike by ASUU.
The theme of the summit on public sector corruption was,
“Corruption and the Education Sector.” It was organised by the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in conjunction
with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), with support from MacArthur
Foundation.
Speaking at the conference, Buhari said contrary widespread
belief, the academic unions were no less complicit in the systemic corruption
in the education sector. He said the effect of corruption in the education
sector undermined national capacity to develop requisite social capital for
socioeconomic development, acknowledging, however, that no nation develops
without adequate and appropriate investment in education.
The president called on stakeholders to demand
accountability in the administration of academic institutions. He said unions
should interrogate the bloated personnel and recurrent expenditure of their
institutions.
Buhari said, “Incessant strikes, especially by unions in the
tertiary education, often imply that government is grossly underfunding
education. But I must say that corruption in the education system, from basic
level to the tertiary level, has been undermining our investment in the sector
and those who go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit.
“Government and stakeholders in the educational sector are
concerned about the manifestation of various forms of corruption in the education
sector. I am aware that students in our universities, for example, use
different terminologies to describe different forms of corruption they
experience on our campuses.
“There is sorting or cash for marks/grades, sex for marks,
sex for grade alterations, examination malpractice, and so on.”
He added, “Sexual harassment has assumed an alarming
proportion. Other forms of corruption include pay-roll padding or ghost
workers, lecturers taking up full time appointments in more than one academic
institution, including private institutions, lecturers writing seminar papers,
projects and dissertations for students for a fee, and admission racketeering,
to mention only the most glaring corrupt practices.
“I am happy to note that ICPC is investigating and prosecuting
sexual harassment as abuse of power in our educational institutions. I approve
and encourage them to continue to do so.”
Buhari affirmed that government would continue to fund
education within realistically available revenue. He urged stakeholders, including
the media, to advocate transparency in the internally generated revenues by
educational institutions and how such funds were expended.
The president alleged, “Corruption in the expenditure of
internally generated revenue of tertiary institutions is a matter that has
strangely not received the attention of stakeholders in tertiary education,
including unions.
“I call on stakeholders to demand accountability in the
administration of academic institutions and for unions to interrogate the
bloated personnel and recurrent expenditure of their institutions. Let me also
implore the unions to work with government to put faces and identities to names
on the payroll.”
He further stated, “I believe that the role of government in
education is to guarantee access and establish minimum benchmarks for quality
education. Due to declining resources, government cannot bear the cost of
funding education alone. I task our academics to attract endowments, research
and other grants to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education
similar to what obtains in other countries.”
FG Registers Two New University-based Unions
Meanwhile, the federal government formally registered two new
university based unions – CONUA and NAMDA. The government said with the
registration granted the two unions, they were now entitled to all rights and
privileges ascribed to unions and would be given access to those rights by the
government and university authorities.
While conveying the approval to the leadership of the two
unions at a meeting in Abuja yesterday, Ngige said the move would help
liberalise the academic sub-sector and make for more freedom for university
workers.
The minister stated, “In view of the above, I Senator Chris
Nwabueze Ngige, in the exercise of the power conferred on me as the Minister of
Labour & Employment, do hereby approve the registration of CONUA and NAMDA.
“The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in the
discharge of her mandate in the management of employment relationships and the
administration of trade unions to ensure harmonious industrial relations system
in the nation has decided to approve the registration of two more trade unions
in the Nigerian university academic sub- sector. The university sub-sector is a
major development plank of any nation’s socio-economic growth.”
Ngige said NAMDA included those medical doctors doing
pre-clinical teaching of basic medical courses and honorary consultants
teaching clinical students in the universities.
He told the new unions, “In view of this registration, you
are entitled to all rights and privileges accruable to union of similar status
which include right to receive check off dues of members. You can now go back
to your institutions and open the doors of your classrooms to teach the
students.”
While explaining the government decision, Ngige said that in
the last eight months, the classrooms in the country’s public universities had
been shut and students kept at home by the strike action embarked upon by ASUU.
He lamented that the ugly situation had persisted despite series of engagements
to resolve the trade dispute by the federal government through the Ministry of
Education.
The minister alleged, “However, all efforts at conciliation
failed resulting in the transmission of the trade dispute to the National
Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) for adjudication in line with the statutory
trade dispute resolution processes.
“At the NICN, an Interlocutory Injunction Order was obtained
asking the Union to get back to work while the substantive suit is being heard;
an order ASUU leadership and members refused to obey.
“Interestingly, a lot of university teachers in the public
universities had indicated their willingness to get back to work while
negotiations continue.”
While justifying the decision, Ngige narrated that the
experience in some of the institutions was helpless. He noted that some medical
doctors teaching in various medical schools/colleges of medicine had carried on
with teaching in the universities of Maiduguri, Bauchi, and Sokoto, and had
graduated new doctors in the midst of the ASUU strike.
He argued that some of those lecturers had since been
applying to have their own academic associations registered as trade unions to
organise their members, because they did not share in the models, objectives,
modus operandi, mission and vision of ASUU.
Ngige said there were differences among the key segments of
the universities, especially those who did not believe in recurring strikes as
solution to every welfare problem. He said some lecturers had also accused the
ASUU executive of non-rendition of account of incomes and expenditure for
years.
Ngige stated, “The Ministry of Labour and Employment set up
a committee to look into the merit of their application. The committee saw
merit in the application and recommended approval for the registration of the
Association by the Registrar of Trade Unions (RTU) since 2020. But for the
advent of COVID-19 pandemic and the recurring ASUU Strike, this would have been
done.”
National Coordinator of CONUA, Niyi Sumonu, assured the
minister that they would work to ensure that the country was not truamatised
again by strike. He said CONUA members were never on strike, adding that they
would appreciate if the federal government would prevail on the school
authorities to reopen the institutions for normal academic activities.
Similarly, President of NAMDA, Dase Lancy Oriue, said the
registration gave medical and dental academics in the universities and other
tertiary institutions, where training of medical students and postgraduate
doctors took place, a legal voice in the determination of the training
requirements, management of the training system, and the welfare of its
members.
Oriue explained that medicine and dentistry were very
sensitive professions, which required a well-programmed, uninterrupted, and
hands-on training.
ASUU: Ngige is Desperate, So-called Faction are Dissidents
ASUU described the newly registered unions as unimportant,
saying it has no faction. ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke
exclusively to THISDAY, said Ngige was only being desperate over what he alone
knew.
Emphasising that Nigerians needed to ask the minister
certain questions, Osodeke said the newly registered unions were just
dissidents whose extravagant ambitions were being advanced by Ngige.
Osodeke accused the minister of sabotaging the efforts of
the National Assembly to deal with the root cause of the strike.
He said, “We don’t have factions of ASUU. The minister is
desperate, but they are inconsequential. Our union is intact and we will
continue. When the National Assembly is trying to intercede on an issue and the
Ministry of Labour is jumping from court, to the issue of salaries, registering
other unions. I think Nigerians should ask him what is his interest?
“We don’t have factions. Call them. Go to any of our
branches, we do not have factions. What there are, the new group at OAU are
dissidents and he (Ngige) encouraged them. But we don’t have factions. If we
have factions, can we be on strike for eight months?”
Gbajabiamila Presents Recommendations to Buhari, Says End to
Strike Near
Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila,
met with Buhari as part of efforts to resolve the on-going ASUU strike.
Gbajabiamila led a delegation of principal officers of the House to Aso Rock
Presidential Villa immediately after yesterday’s plenary.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, the speaker
said the visit was to submit recommendations from their meetings with ASUU and
relevant stakeholders to Buhari for his approval. He expressed optimism that
the crisis would soon be resolved, as the delegation had a robust engagement
with the president.
Gbajabiamila said, “As you know, what is on the front burner
today, even beyond the politics, is that our universities, our lecturers, and
our children are out of school.
“The House of Representatives decided to step in at that
point four weeks ago and we’ve had a series of meetings that lasted hours and
we’ve been able to get both sides to shift ground to an extent and that’s what
we came to discuss with Mr. President about those recommendations.
“Mr. President, as usual, had a very good listening ear. He
took the report of the House, accepted it. We discussed it at length, the
details of the report, and he wanted to go through them himself.
“We have another meeting on Thursday between our good selves
and Mr. President for his final decision. We had a good engagement, with a very
positive response. He asked us a couple of questions, in some grey areas, which
we clarified, and he accepted the report and he wanted a couple of days to go
through it.“We are working and we are hopeful that this (strike) will soon be a
thing of the past. I know once this is agreed upon, the strike will be called
off.”
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