The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Chris Piwuna, has accused the federal government of failing to implement any of the agreements reached with the union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Trust TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, ASUU had consistently engaged the government in dialogue, but no part of the negotiated agreements has been enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have always made ourselves available to government. Anytime they call us, we come from Calabar, Port Harcourt, Jos and other places to meet in Abuja. Dialogue has always been our first option,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“But there\u2019s no part of the agreement that has been enforced. We have agreed with the government team on each of the items \u2013 funding, conditions of service, academic freedom, university autonomy, and review of some laws among others. What is left is for the government team to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that while collective bargaining with the government\u2019s negotiation team had produced documents both sides agreed upon, implementation had stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is no disagreement between us and the government side on each of these items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat remains is for them to return to their principals (the Ministry of education and the federal government) and say \u2018look, these are the things we\u2019ve agreed with ASUU. Do you accept it? So we can go back to ASUU and tell them you\u2019ve accepted this, and tell them you don\u2019t want this.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, on the items we have agreed with them, it\u2019s just for them to get back to us on what their principals have agreed to. That is where we are stuck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof. Piwuna, who is also a medical doctor, linked the mass exodus of professionals from universities and teaching hospitals to poor salaries and conditions of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the Jos University Teaching Hospital where I work, at least 20 consultants have left in the last two years. As a head of department, hardly three months pass without my signing a reference letter for a doctor relocating abroad,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same for lecturers. If everybody is leaving because of salary, why can\u2019t you improve the salary and retain the staff?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that Nigerian lecturers are being absorbed by other African countries. \u201cIn Uganda today, you will not find fewer than 20 Nigerian lecturers, sometimes in one university,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ASUU president further lamented the poor state of facilities in Nigerian universities, which he said contributes to their low ranking globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOut of 333 universities in Nigeria, fewer than five are in the top 1,000 in Africa. Our pay is low, facilities are not upgraded, and conditions of service are poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Go to any public university and ask female lecturers if they are comfortable using the restrooms. Many would rather drive home before returning to campus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prof. Piwuna insisted that lecturers are not happy with strikes but are compelled to use them as a last resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLecturers are not happy with strikes. Our students are our children. Our wives and relatives are in the system. We are all affected. But unless government addresses these issues, instability in the system will continue,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He urged the media, traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents and civil society to join in advocating for reforms in the education sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not about ASUU. ASUU is only fighting for a better system. It is about our future and about our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Daily Trust)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Chris Piwuna, has accused the federal government of failing to implement any of the agreements reached with the union. He spoke on Wednesday during an interview on Trust TV. According to him, ASUU had consistently engaged the government in dialogue, but no part of the negotiated agreements has been enforced. \u201cWe have always made ourselves available to government. Anytime they call us, we come from Calabar, Port Harcourt, Jos and other places to meet in Abuja. Dialogue has always been our first option,\u201d he said. “But there\u2019s no part of the agreement that has been enforced. We have agreed with the government team on each of the items \u2013 funding, conditions of service, academic freedom, university autonomy, and review of some laws among others. What is left is for the government team to take action.\u201d He explained that while collective bargaining with the government\u2019s negotiation team had produced documents both sides agreed upon, implementation had stalled. \u201cThere is no disagreement between us and the government side on each of these items. \u201cWhat remains is for them to return to their principals (the Ministry of education and the federal government) and say \u2018look, these are the things we\u2019ve agreed with ASUU. Do you accept it? So we can go back to ASUU and tell them you\u2019ve accepted this, and tell them you don\u2019t want this.\u2019 \u201cSo, on the items we have agreed with them, it\u2019s just for them to get back to us on what their principals have agreed to. That is where we are stuck,\u201d he said. Prof. Piwuna, who is also a medical doctor, linked the mass exodus of professionals from universities and teaching hospitals to poor salaries and conditions of service. \u201cIn the Jos University Teaching Hospital where I work, at least 20 consultants have left in the last two years. As a head of department, hardly three months pass without my signing a reference letter for a doctor relocating abroad,\u201d he revealed. \u201cIt\u2019s the same for lecturers. If everybody is leaving because of salary, why can\u2019t you improve the salary and retain the staff?\u201d He noted that Nigerian lecturers are being absorbed by other African countries. \u201cIn Uganda today, you will not find fewer than 20 Nigerian lecturers, sometimes in one university,\u201d he said. The ASUU president further lamented the poor state of facilities in Nigerian universities, which he said contributes to their low ranking globally. \u201cOut of 333 universities in Nigeria, fewer than five are in the top 1,000 in Africa. Our pay is low, facilities are not upgraded, and conditions of service are poor. “Go to any public university and ask female lecturers if they are comfortable using the restrooms. Many would rather drive home before returning to campus,\u201d he said. Prof. Piwuna insisted that lecturers are not happy with strikes but are compelled to use them as a last resort. \u201cLecturers are not happy with strikes. Our students are our children. Our wives and relatives are in the system. We are all affected. But unless government addresses these issues, instability in the system will continue,\u201d he warned. He urged the media, traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents and civil society to join in advocating for reforms in the education sector. \u201cThis is not about ASUU. ASUU is only fighting for a better system. It is about our future and about our country,\u201d he added. (Daily Trust)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26646,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644\/revisions\/26646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fctnewsgazette.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}