29th November, 2013
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, have described as a huge joke the 4 December ultimatum issued to them by the federal government to resume classes.
The federal government yesterday through the Minister of State for Education, Nyeson Wike, issued the ultimatum to the striking university lecturers.
Wike directed Vice Chancellors of universities to declare vacant the position of any varsity teacher who did not resume on the given day.
But reacting to the ultimatum, the ASUU Chairman, UNILAG chapter, Karo Ogbinaka dared the government to carry out its threat. He disclosed that previous governments before the Jonathan administration did the same and failed.
Ogbinaka wondered why the government should fixed the deadline for its ultimatum on 4 December, the day of burial of the former ASUU President, Festus Iyayi, who died in a ghastly accident while going to attend the union’s NEC meeting in Kano.
The UNILAG ASUU Chairman accused the federal government of insincerity in its dealing with the university lecturers, stressing that the threat to sack the lecturers cannot resolve the faceoff between them and the government.
Ogbinaka said ASUU was also aware that the government had given money to some elements in the campuses to sabotage the genuine intention of ASUU.
“UNILAG ASUU will organize a press conference on Monday to address this and other issues,” he stated.
On Wike’s directive to Vice Chancellors to reopen the universities immediately, Ogbinaka said the Universities were not closed in the first place, stressing that it was the lecturers that withdrew their services.
Also reacting to the ultimatum issued by the government to the university lecturers, ASUU-LASU Secretary, Dr. Adewale Suenu, described it as “laughable, backward, militaristic and outright misconception of the current ASUU strike.”
“The Minister directed that universities should be opened, I need to inform the Federal Government that universities were never closed in the first place. A visit to our universities will establish that what lecturers did is to withdraw our services, which is just 10-15 percent of what lecturers are meant to do. So, the order that universities should be reopened is laughable, backward, militaristic, and outright misconception of the current ASUU strike.”
He stated further that as against the position of the Federal Government that ASUU national body brought up fresh demands to call off the strike, the lecturers only wanted the government to concretize the outcome of the last meeting with the lecturers.
“What ASUU is saying is that the Federal Government should concretize the existing demands and sort out the grey areas. We are saying Federal government should deposit the N200 billion promised for 2013 into a dedicated account in CBN accessible to the universities. We are not saying ‘pay into ASUU account’. Secondly, we are saying nobody should be victimized as a result of this strike. How are these demands outrageous?” he asked.
Another lecturer in the Department Political Science, Dr. Surajudeen Mudasiru, said the ultimatum will not work as the Minister is only fulfilling official righteousness.
“The order will not work as the Minister is only fulfilling official righteousness. Federal Government needs to understand that ASUU President is responsible to the Union and its members. He is only communicating the position of members back to the government, not bringing up new demands. Federal Government should just be responsible to fulfill its obligations,” he said.
—Sulaimon Mojeed-Sanni