The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has called out the National Assembly over the recent invitation of Vice Chancellors and other Heads of tertiary contrary to come before it to defend the implementation of intervention Funds allocated to them under the Tertiary Education Trust, TET-Fund.
It was gathered that recently, the National Assembly has been breathing down the necks of the VCs and heads of other tertiary institutions on the pretext of oversight resources allocated to the universities by TETFund.
At the end of their meeting held at ASUU Headquarters, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka on Monday, the ASUU Owerri zone expressed worry that some of the Vice Chancellors could become susceptible to corruption and other sharp practices associated with such oversight.
It restated the warning of the National Executive Council of the body to Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors that ASUU will stop at nothing to resist the increasingly unethical moves to fritter away the TETFund intervention funds within or outside the universities.
Prof Dennis Aribodor, the ASUU Owerri Zone Coordinator, who read the communique issued at the end of the meeting to journalists, said each university is autonomous and should be allowed to run its business on its own with its internal regulatory mechanisms.
“In countries like America, Vice Chancellors are called Presidents because there shouldn’t be interference in the administration of the universities from the outside.
“Everything should be in the universities, starting with the governing councils. And that’s why we call for the immediate reconstitution of the governing councils, whose duties include supervising and administering issues of finances.
”Universities have in-built mechanisms of checkmating all kinds of sharp practices.
“What we have found is that most such oversights come with a stinge of corruption where Vice Chancellors are made to part with the scarce resources the universities are grappling with to address enormous challenges.
“So, we can’t accept that. TETFund has a law and this law specifies how the funds will be administered,” he maintained.
The zone, which also used the press conference to update Nigerians on developments since the suspension of their last national strike action on 14th October 2022, called on the Federal Government to conclude the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009 which has dragged on for seven years since 2017.
They regretted that academic staff in the universities have remained on the same salary structure for 15 years due to the reluctance of the Government to conclude the renegotiation.
“The renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009 has dragged on for seven years since 2017 and the reluctance of the Federal Government to conclude the renegotiation is the reason why the Government committee has had three Chairmen from Wale Babalakin through Munzali Jibril to Nimi Briggs.
“This means that academic staff in our universities have been on the same salary structure for 15 years.
“We urge the Bola Tinubu administration to speedily put a final closure to the renegotiation by directing the upward review in view of current economic realities and signing the draft agreement reached with the Nimi Briggs committee.
“The most obvious implication of the truncation of the renegotiation of the Agreement is that university teachers in Nigeria have been on the same salary regime since 2009 when the value of the naira to the dollar was N120 as against N1800 today.
“The signing of the Nimi Briggs draft agreement will be a concrete step towards restoring the dignity of the academia and ensuring industrial harmony and peace on our campuses,” Aribodor said.
The ASUU Owerri zone also frowned at the decision of the past Federal administration, to withhold salaries of some ASUU members for embarking on the prolonged strike to press home their demands.
According to the body, the ASUU strike, instigated by the failure of the government to honor agreements, was after all in the national interest.
“The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions guarantee the right of trade unions to use strike action as a means of pressing for its demands as a last resort.
“The immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, in pursuance of his animus towards ASUU engaged in the weaponization of hunger and poverty by withholding the seven and half months salaries of academic staff in Federal Universities.
“Some Visitors of state universities cued in leading to the withholding of varying months of salaries of academic staff in state universities.
“The most ignoble act of the then Minister of Labour was the pro rata salaries paid to academic staff in October 2022 sequel to the suspension of the strike.
“The step taken by the Tinubu administration to pay four months of the withheld salaries is a step in the right direction. Consequently, we urge the Tinubu administration to put a closure to the agitations surrounding the withheld salaries by clearing the remaining three and half months. That struggle by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, instigated by the failure of the government to honour agreements, was after all in the national interest. Meeting ASUU’s demand in this regard is a panacea for industrial peace in our universities,” he said.
Aribodor also regretted that the Federal Government has lately been evasive on its commitment to the payment of the backlog of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), part of which was captured in the 2023 National Budget for Federal Universities.
According to him, “the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of December 2020 between FGN and ASUU captured the mainstreaming of the Earned Academic Allowances into the salaries of lecturers with effect from 2022 while the arrears were to be cleared prior to the mainstreaming.
“The scheduled payment of the arrears was aborted, while the mainstreaming of the Earned Academic Allowances which was supposed to commence in 2022 has remained a mirage in both Federal and most State Universities. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.”
