ASUU Strike Update: Varsity Congress Decisions

We just shared some asuu post which i think you will find interesting, like the:

• Prof. Festus Iyayi Death Might Prolong ASUU’s Strike!
• ASUU Strike Might End as Universities Votes for Call Off

As the various chapters of the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU), meets on 12th of November 2013, in their respective Universities, to Vote for or against the suspension of the Ongoing Strike action, we have some gathered reports from our correspondents in these chapters and we will do our best to share these chapters thoughts, reasons why the strike should be called off or shouldn’t be called off.

University of Jos (unijos)
The members of the UNIJOS chapter, had on the 12th of Novemer, voted overwhelmingly for the strike to continue.
After receiving briefings on what transpired at last week’s meeting of the union’s representatives with President Goodluck Jonathan and after going through copies of the resolution of the meeting, 194 members voted for the strike to continue while 80 voted for a suspension.

We also received information that after several hours of debate by those for and against the continuation of the strike, it was obvious that majority felt that the meeting with the president did not achieve what the union/chapter really needs.

Those who spoke in favour of the strike to continue wondered why the strike should be called off on the basis of pleads and verbal promises by the president of Nigeria, when the federal government is allegedly reputed for not to honoring agreements.

They were said to have argued that the suffering by students and members in the last four months would be a waste if something concrete did not come out of the strike to improve the situation in universities.

It was further gathered that those for the suspension of the strike spoke passionately on the need to consider the impact of the strike on students and the gesture from President Jonathan, who met personally with ASUU leaders and pleaded with them to suspend the strike.

A few of them were quoted as saying it was better to suspend the strike and find other ways of pursuing their demands so as not to lose the support of the people.

It was learnt that the Branch ASUU Chairman, Dr. David Jangkham, after announcing the result of the voting, said it would be taken to the national body which would collate the referendum on the issue from various chapters to come up with a position on whether the strike would be suspended or sustained.

A member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed fears that the referenda in other branches might follow the same trend “if the briefing we got here is what they got.”

University of Lagos (unilag)
A source at University of Lagos, UNILAG, chapter, told Vanguard that the debate at its congress was on whether to end or suspend the strike.

He said: “We eventually moved to suspend the strike and end it only when the President pumps in the first N220 billion into the Universities in January 2014.

“Although this is not totally in line with the 2009 agreement, we feel that we can suspend the strike out of respect for the President. We just want to give him the benefit of doubt, and hope that he fulfills his promise.”

Lagos State University (lasu)
At Lagos State University, LASU, one of the executive members of ASUU, who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity, affirmed that though the chapter was not averse to the proposal of President Jonathan, but the consensus at its congress was that ASUU should not just be a monitoring body when the fund is finally injected.

He said: “After our congress, which lasted several hours, it was the resolve of our chapter that the strike should not be called off, because we are uncomfortable with the fact that the Federal Government has said that ASUU will just be a monitoring officer, while the Minister of Education will be the implementation officer.

“We argued that we must be part and parcel of how the funds are managed and what they have earmarked for within the period of five years.

“How can we know if the Ministry of Education and other authorities are prudently spending the funds for the proposed projects if ASUU is not part of the management committee? So, our position is that the strike should not be called off.”

UI
At the University of Ibadan, Vanguard gathered that members asked their leadership to commit the President to signing the resolution of FG/ASUU meeting held last week and include non-victimisation clause.

The Chairman, ASUU, University of Ibadan, Dr. Segun Ajiboye, said that the union had set up project monitoring committee to ensure that funds released by government was not misappropriated.

Ajiboye maintained that it was not how quick the strike ends but how well it ends, adding that the goal of the strike must be actualised.

According to him, it was regrettable that it took the Federal Government four months to think education was an important sector, adding that no country in the world plays with education the way Nigerian leaders do.

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