ASUU: Strike Must Continue

Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, Monday, rejected the N130
billion the Federal Government
disbursed into the university system, as
part of efforts to persuade striking
lecturers to call off the strike action
they embarked on July 2.
In a letter written to Head of National
Economic Empowerment Development
Strategy, NEEDs Assessment, and Benue
State Governor, Gabriel Suswan, by
President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge.
The union insisted that based on the 2009
ASUU/FGN agreement and the January
2012 Memoranda of Understanding, MoU,
signed by both parties, what was due for
2012 and 2013 was N500 billion, not N100
billion.
The letter read: "We observe that the
Committee is so far mentioning only N100
billion. If the implementation is to be
related to the funding requirements in the
2009 ASUU/FGN agreement and the Jan
2012 MoU, what is due for 2012 and 2013
is N500 billion not N100 billion. Only the
provision of this sum will meet the
immediate needs of the universities.
"Our Union is very apprehensive of the
manner in which the sources of the initial
N100 billion to be used for the stimulation
of the process are shrouded in secrecy.
We believe that monies that already
belong to the university system should not
be blocked and recycled. This will not only
be counter-productive but will brew even
deeper crises in the system. ASUU will not
accept this.
"We are also concerned that a clear
procedure or process for assessing the
funds by the universities is yet to be
defined. This concern is even more
germane given the statement of the
Chairman of the Committee (during the
last meeting on Monday, August 19, 2013)
that the committee is taking some
documents to the Due Process Office.
"We hasten to add that while due process
must be followed, it is the sole
responsibility of benefitting universities to
respect all the provisions of the
Procurement Act. The meaning of your
Committee going to the Due Process Office
is that it is the one that will be
responsible for awarding contracts.
"We want to make it clear that this will
never be acceptable to our Union. We
believe that monies meant to fund
projects in universities should be sent to
the universities just as it is the practice
with TETFund",
The union condemned allocation of
construction of 2,500 bed space hostel for
N1billion, instead of 3,000 bed space for
N1.2 billion.
"We are worried that instead of allocating
N1.2 billion each to construct 3,000 bed
space hostels to the 10 Category 1
universities, N1.0 billion for 2,500 bed
space hostel to the 16 Category 2
universities, N500 million to construct
1,250 bed space hostels in the 12 Category
3 universities and N250 million each to
construct 625 bed space hostels in the 13
Category 4 universities, the secretariat has
changed that to constructing 1,400 bed
space hostels in 25 universities at the cost
of N2 billion each. We see no rationale in
this.
"Expending N50 billion to construct 35,000
bed space hostels across 25 universities
will be ridiculously scandalous since the
same amount can be used to construct
125,000 bed space hostels across 51
universities. The standard cost of building
a bed space ranges from N200,000.00 to a
maximum of N400,000.00.
"This is even more worrisome given the
tangential suggestions made by the
chairman that only monies for
refurbishment will be sent to universities
while the rest will be handled centrally,"
the union said.
The union also condemned the exclusion
of 22 universities from the allocation for
refurbishment of laboratories and libraries
and three universities from the allocation
for refurbishment of lecture theatres and
lecture rooms.
According to ASUU, 24 universities are
denied allocation for construction of
libraries and laboratories, while two are
denied allocation for construction of new
lecture theatres and lecture rooms. 26
universities are denied allocation for
construction of hostel.