Students and their parents jubilated on
Tuesday over the suspension of the 169-day strike by the Academic Staff
Union of Universities.
Even though ASUU ordered its members to
return to work immediately, students of most public universities
might not return to their campuses because of the Yuletide .
The union embarked on the strike on
July 1 to demand the implementation of an agreement it reached with the
Federal Government in 2009.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who
announced the suspension of the strike which started on July 1, said
the union had accepted the resolutions it signed with the government on
December 11.
The resolutions include immediate
commencement of the revitalisation processes as contained in a letter
with reference number FME/PS/398/C.1/Vol i.1/110, dated December 12,
2013, titled, “Opening of Dedicated Account for Revitalisation of
Nigerian Universities.”
Fagge told journalists at the Bosso
Campus of the Federal University of Technology, Minna in Niger State,
that the revitalisation funds for five years would be provided by the
Federal Government.
He said, “Finally, NEC has resolved to
suspend the strike embarked upon on July 1, 2013, with effect from
Tuesday, December 17, 2013 and directs its branches to resume work
forthwith.
“First we expect that implementation
monitoring committee which has already been constituted to the
satisfaction of government and ASUU, will work assiduously so that the
process of revitalisation of Nigerian universities will receive the much
needed boost, and our students and their parents will begin to see the
fruits of the ASUU struggles.
“ASUU would have preferred to undertake
the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement in the second quarter of 2014,
but we were persuaded to shift the date to the third quarter, and we
agreed as a gesture of goodwill.
“It is our hope that government will
honour these resolutions as signed. ASUU hopes that the common position
between government and ASUU that nobody shall be victimised in any way
whatsoever for his or her role in the process leading to these
resolutions and agreements will be implemented.”
According to him, ASUU and the
government also agreed that an Implementation Monitoring Committee
should meet to verify the level of implementation of the Earned
Academic Allowances of the union members.
He added that the Federal Government agreed to provide fund for the payment of the outstanding balance.
Fagge said ASUU expected the
government to act quickly to engage the services of the universities in
special consulting services as contained in the resolutions.
“This is one of the challenges that the
universities have been asking the government to throw to Nigerian
universities; we are more than ready to meet the challenges,’’ he
added.
He therefore urged parents and
guardians to demand better funding of the public universities, better
living conditions of students, laboratories on campuses, and freedom for
their children to enable them to get all round education. Read more
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