The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has stated that it still has six pending issues before the federal government.
National President, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke stated this on Thursday, in Ibadan, during the opening of the multipurpose secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) branch.
Osodeke who said the ASUU had given the federal government enough breathing space to address the issues, as he readied members for another impasse with government.
Osodeke mentioned the pending issues as: “Renegotiation of our agreement; payment of withheld salaries, it still remains three and a half months; earned academic allowance, that was in last year’s budget which they have not disbursed; release of NEEDS assessment fund, which was also in last year’s budget; reconstitution of governing councils.”
Decrying that the President Bola Tinubu administration was yet to reconstitute governing councils of tertiary institutions since last June, Osodeke said the ASUU did not believe that the councils were dissolved but that government withdrew its own members while its own members will continue their term whenever government announced new governing councils.
Furthermore, the ASUU president said the union demanded a negotiated wage rather than the wage award of N35,000.
He added: “We said let us negotiate wage, they say we are giving you wage award between N25,000 to N35,000. We have told them that is not our own. We have agreed as a union that whatever is legally hitting your account, spend it, but it is not a negotiated salary. We are insisting that it has to be a negotiated salary and we have given the government long breathing space, there is need to squeeze them a little bit and we should be prepared.”
While commending the UI ASUU branch for the edifice it built using expertise of its members, Osodeke decried the use of consultants to handle projects in the country.
He said the government should be hiring expertise in the universities as consultants.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan Professor Kayode Adebowale represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnership, Professor Yemisi Bamgbose commended the union.
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Adebowale said the secretariat will serve as a hub of intellectual discuss, collaboration and solidarity among the unions members “as it continues to strive for a better future for our universities and our nation.”
The University of Ibadan ASUU Chairman, Professor Ayo Akinwole said the secretariat was built without donation from external people.
He commended members of the union who gave in cash and kind to see to its completion.
Delivering a lecture on the occasion, a Professor of Botany, Odoje Biodiversity Centre, Ogbomosho, Omotoye Olorode spoke on the foundationality of neoliberal narrative in the response of the Nigerian ruling class to ASUU’s strike.
She said: “ASUU’s struggles arise out of the necessity to build a country in which every citizen shall be free, educated, well fed and healthy.
“We cannot abandon these struggles and yet be worthy of being called ‘intellectuals’.
“This is where we stand. This is where we ought to stand.”
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