From Msurshima Andrew, Makurdi
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, (ASUU -FUAM), chapter has called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led federal government to honour it’s agreement with the union as contained in the renegotiated draft 2009 agreement or it would be held responsible if ASUU goes on strike again.
Chairman of the ASUU-FUAM, Comrade Paul Anyagh stated this on Wednesday when he led his members on the peaceful protest in Makurdi , the Benue state capital.
The members who defied a heavy to protest what they termed as Government’s “culture of elusive promises” bore placards with several inscriptions including “Let Lecturers Breathe” “Remove Us From IPPIS”, “Release All Promotion Arrears “, “No to Proliferation of Universities”, “UTAS Represent Integrity and Local Content. Deploy UTAS Now”, among others.
Addressing newsmen, Anyagh listed perennial issues in the agreement which include Earned Academic Allowance, University Transparency Accountability Solutions, Funding for the Revitalization of Public Universities, Proliferation of Universities, Payment of the withheld salaries and reinstatement of governing council members whose tenure has not elapsed.
Anyagh regretted that till now, the government has refused to address the issue of EAA after it promised that it was going to be mainstreamed from the 2022 budget year.
The Chairman also stated that funding of public universities still remains a mirage, saying, no disbursement has been made to any university.
He noted that, “University lecturers in Nigeria are still the worst paid in Africa. This is also occasioned by government refusal to sign the negotiated agreement which the Nimi Briggs committee reached with ASUU.”
The ASUU boss also berated federal government for creating enabling law to prevent the proliferation of public universities without corresponding funding.
The union called on federal government to stop what it described as elusive promises but to bold enough to honour it’s agreement.
Anyagh warned that if the federal government fails to honour the agreements, it should be ready to take responsibility of whatever actions that ASUU will take going forward.
