The Academic Staff Union of the University, ASUU, has urged the Federal Government to be courageous enough to honour its agreement with the union and save the University System for the sake of the Nigerian child.
Rising from it emergency congress meeting held Tuesday in Makurdi, the ASUU, Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, JOSTUM, chapter urged the Federal Government to stop being elusive in implementing all the agreements it reached with the union and willingly signed 2009.
Addressing the media at the end of the congress, Chairperson of ASUU-JOSTUM chapter, Prof. Simon Ejembi recalled that pursuant to the agreement reached with the Federal Government “a Memorandum of Action, MoA, was signed between Federal Government and ASUU on December 23, 2020.
“The MoA was targeted at addressing critical issues after a nine-month-old strike was suspended; and they include the University Transparency Accountability Solutions, UTAS, the IPPIS and the Earned Academic Allowances, EAA, accruing to members.
“Others are Funding for the Revitalisation of Public and State Universities, the signing and implementation of the renegotiated Draft 2009 Agreement.
“It is indeed regrettable that Federal Government is yet to take action on some of the major issues in that MoA. However, the Federal Government after threats of another strike reluctantly released money for the payment of EAA and some funds for the Revitalization of public universities.
“Afterwards, the government finds it more convenient to make elusive promises to ASUU. One wonders why the government will resort to ‘promising again that it will fulfil its promises.
Continuing, Prof. Ejembi said, “as of today, UTAS has excellently passed over 600 tests conducted by the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, in all areas including end users’ tests. The evaluation results from the data gathered during the tests showed that UTAS is an excellent package for deployment to the Nigerian University System.
“It is to be noted that the foul cries from all government parastatals against the ill of IPPIS is a vindication of ASUU’s position against IPPIS, Federal Government should be courageous enough to make real its promises of encouraging local content in its national economic development policy.
“UTAS is one hundred per cent homegrown by academics in Nigerian universities and at no cost to Federal Government. Why is the Federal Government insisting on paying for products which its experts can and have willingly developed for free?”
The union further recalled its position and agreement with the Federal Government for an enabling law to check the proliferation of universities regretting that the Federal Government “is still granting licenses for the establishment of more state universities without corresponding funding.”
