ASUU faults Jonathan over strike, don seeks end to action
FRIDAY, 04 OCTOBER 2013 00:00 FROM KODILINYE OBIAGWU, LAWRENCE NJOKU (ENUGU); ISA ABDLSALAMI (JOS); COLLINS OLAYINKA (ABUJA) AND ALI GARBA (BAUCHI) NEWS - NATIONAL
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Poly teachers begin work-to-rule today
AMID the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Chairman of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi chapter, Dr. Lawan Abubakar has faulted President Goodluck Jonathan on the current impasse between the universities teachers and the Federal Government.
  Also, citing the failure of government to honour agreement, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) will today begin an indefinite work-to-rule action.
  Similarly, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and the Federal Government yesterday in Abuja begun a meeting aimed at ending their industrial action. The parley is at the instance of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu.
  Meanwhile, the Head of Department, Banking and Finance of the University of Jos, Prof. Peter Emeka Arinze, has advised ASUU to accept the Federal Government concession and call off the protracted strike.
  In a related development, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Bartho Okolo has said that for universities to survive in the present scheme of things in the country, they must seek resource options.
  Abubakar faulted the Presidential media chat of September  29, 2013, saying  “while respecting Mr. President and appreciating the drudgery, arduousness and fatigue he was exhibiting during the chat, we would want Nigerians to know that the actors in denying Nigerians sound university education did a very bad job of the media propaganda on the matter. It was either they could not download the message to Mr. President properly, or he could not upload adequately, or still, that he could not offload correctly”.
  Abubakar explained that what was known from their past records was that an ASUU strike led to the FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement, which led to the January 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) after another ASUU strike, which also led to the Needs Assessment.
  He added: ‘‘To make Mr. President to believe and pronounce that too much money than the country has is required to implement the FGN-ASUU 2009 is not only worrisome, but embarrassing.”
  Arinze, who spoke with The Guardian yesterday in Jos, said that lecturers are not terrorists who always stick to their guns.     “We should consider our students, parents and our economy and call off the strike. Nigeria must be rescued from the Federal Government/ASUU of managing the affairs of government-owned universities and evolve the progressive policy for moving university education in Nigeria forward.”
  ASUP said its decision to embark on a renewed work-to-rule action is influenced by the failure of the Federal Government to fulfill any of the promises and agreements reached with the union before the suspension of the strike on July 17, 2013.
   The issues in contention include CONTISS 15 Migration for Lower cadres, Needs Assessment of Polytechnics, release of White-paper of visitation to Federal polytechnics, discrimination between polytechnics and university graduates in job placement and career progression and the constitution of Governing Councils to Federal polytechnics earlier omitted.
  Okolo stated that any university that was not able to raise its own capital for development and operations may not survive in the near future, explaining that Nigerian higher education environment was suffering severe setbacks due to lack of adequate resources.
  Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Enugu as part of activities to mark the 53rd Founders Day celebration and golden jubilee of the first graduates of the university, Okolo added that Nigerian universities were suffering from astronomical increase in enrolment as well as integrated growth.