Well-meaning Nigerians have been called on to caution the Federal Government to honour its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to prevent industrial action in the nation’s tertiary education sector.
Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU National President, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Ogunyemi told NAN on Sunday that “Government has not kept faith with our MOA signed on February 7.
“What government ought to have done, they do not want to do any more. They have literally gone to sleep.
“For instance they had promised before the suspension of the strike, to set up a visitation panel to our universities within two weeks and three months after the government has not done anything in that regard.
By February 28 of this year, the government had promised to pay the union, N25 billion part payment of outstanding arrears of the EARN academic allowances.
“Our renegotiation with Dr Wale Babalakin had promised to put us in a more cordial path with fair guidelines when we come back to the renegotiation table but now, there seems to be no change of attitude on the side of government.”
Ogunyemi stated that union has a timeframe attached to every action, hence the current call for caution on the part of the government.
“The point is that we are not keen about disrupting the academic calendar. What we are doing is to express our worries and carry the public along.
“So, Nigerians must come out now and speak to the government concerning all these things raised to maintain the current precarious industrial stability on our campuses,” he said.