Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has thrown its weight behind the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in its ongoing strike, urging the union to sustain the tempo until the Federal Government complied with the terms of the 2009 agreement between both parties.
NLC’s Deputy President, Promise Adewusi, who gave the Congress’ position in an exclusive interview with Daily Independent on Thursday, argued that government shouldn’t have entered into the said agreement, if it was not willing to implement it ab-initio.
He spoke against the backdrop of recent comments credited to Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, in Abuja to the effect that there was need for amendment of some contentious issues in the agreement.
But the same Wogu raised the hope of an early resolution of the crisis on Thursday when he said the on-going negotiation between government and ASUU on the controversial 2009 pact was yielding fruits, as the the problematic clauses were being addressed.
Regardless, Adewusi, who lamented government’s penchant for avoiding implementation of agreements, noted that the issues affect all the unions in the education sector, starting from the colleges of education to the polytechnics and the universities.
“The next option for ASUU is to sustain the strike, because there is a subsisting agreement with the government consciously entered into by all the parties, not because the workers were completely satisfied, but in the interest of industrial peace, these agreements were negotiated over a period spanning three years.
“It did not happen overnight; each party, particularly the government, must have thought about it very well. For them to now try to riggle out of this agreement, it portends great danger for Nigeria as a country and people will now begin to take governance with a pinch of salt.
Meanwhile, Wogu told newsmen at the Lagos Airport that “the Federal Government is not silent over the strike declared by ASUU, rather there is an on-going negotiation, which is yielding fruits, as the difficult areas are being addressed.”
The minister, however, called on ASUU leaders to appreciate the efforts of the government and especially President Goodluck Jonathan and reconsider their position by calling off the strike to allow negotiation to continue.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Director (Press) in the Ministry of Education, Samuel Olowookere, in a statement stated that the headlines credited to Wogu in two national newspapers on Wednesday that the ASUU agreement cannot be implemented was not the true representation of what the minister said.
Olowookere, who argued that the minister was misquoted, assured “that the crisis in the education sector will be resolved very soon through the on-going negotiation.”
Also speaking on Thursday at a symposium entitled, ‘Education, Research and Development in Nigeria,’ organized by the University of Ibadan branch of ASUU at Paul Hendrickse Hall of the College of Medicine, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, the union’s National Treasurer, Ademola Aremu, accused the government of “deceit and insincerity.”
Aremu, who was one time chairman of the ASUU, UI branch, said the claim by the government that there was not enough money to implement the 2009 agreement was a ruse.
“By the time government stops frivolous spending, it will realize there is more than enough in this country for everybody’s needs and not enough for some people’s greed.”