- “You can imagine what would have happened to the system. The little we got had made some difference. That’s why you’ve seen some universities coming up. If that process had been allowed to go on, by now, we’d have seen some significant improvement in public universities in Nigeria”, he said.
Academic Staff Union of Universities has asked the Federal Government to show evidence that it had captured in the 2019 budget earned academic allowance of its members.
ASUU National President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, made this clarification while speaking with journalists in Ilorin at the sideline of ‘‘Day of Tributes’’ held in honour of the late Professor Olatunde Oduleye who was a member of the Unilorin 49+ held at the deceased’s Adewole Estate residence, Ilorin.
The day of tributes which was attended by leaders of ASUU from various branches across the country, was at the instance of Unilorin 49 +.
Oduleye was a former Chairman of Unilorin branch of ASUU and Chairman of ASUU negotiation team with the Federal Government.
Ogunyemi who maintained that the union was still negotiating with the Federal Government on its agreement said that the union needed evidence that the N25bn of earned academic allowances had been released by the Federal Government.
“We need evidence that this has been mainstreamed in the 2019 budget. We hope government would be faithful on its promises. We’ll continue with the negotiation. No reason to discontinue with the negotiation as President Muhammadu Buhari enters for second term. However, the process has not been going smoothly as expected. We owe our members that responsibility to push on. So that we can have arrangement that can improve our university system, make it affordable and available for Nigerians.
“Our goal is to come out with a huge agreement that can stand the test of time and position Nigeria’s university system for global reckoning. We hope government will continue to cooperate with us to achieve that goal”, he said.
The ASUU President who said that Nigerian economy was still tied to the apron string of some international organizations, stated that its leaders could not take firm decisions because Nigeria was still in the firm grip of the IMF and World Bank.
“That’s why government renege on agreement. The envelope system that they use for budgeting always limits them to addressing needs of Nigerian people because what they come up with as priority area are never the priority areas for Nigerians. Nigerians need quality and affordable education. They need opportunities to revamp facilities and infrastructure to address rot and decay.
“It’s unfortunate that the ruling class in Nigeria cannot summon enough courage to raise themselves from the grip of the external forces that are controlling economy, education, health and all other sectors, thereby making life uncomfortable and miserable to Nigerians”, he lamented.
He continued, “In 2013, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Jonathan government, which says we needed a total sum of N1.3trn to restore our university system. That was only implemented in the breach. After release of the first year, we’ve been on government neck to make additional releases in line with timeline attached to release of those funds. Now, those funds have armstrung process of restoration.
“You can imagine what would have happened to the system. The little we got had made some difference. That’s why you’ve seen some universities coming up. If that process had been allowed to go on, by now, we’d have seen some significant improvement in public universities in Nigeria”, he said.
