Chairman Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka branch, Comrade Stephen Ufoaroh said it was deeply saddened that the federal government has failed to honour the 2009 agreement.
Ufoaroh regretted that that government had spurned the magnanimity the union extended to it through the signing of various memorandum of Action (MOU) on the way forward for Nigeria tertiary education.
In an exclusive interview in his office the Ufoaroh said ” The strike was rolled over because we went for initial four weeks warning strike hoping that government will resolve the whole issues. At the NEC meeting we had over the weekend, our team that have been discussing with government presented the report on what that has transpired so far and we did not see any progress. The issue of the negotiation of 2009 which is the main issues on contention, we decided to roll over the strike for eight weeks in other to give government enough time to enable them look into the agreement and attend to all the issues that was raised and signed in December 2020.The issue is just to implement the agreement. The MOU sighed in 2020.
“Government have been into propaganda all these while. When you have an issue with somebody and you said you have fulfilled all agreement, then provide the evidence. Let them provide the documents. Some states have more than three federal Universities, and ASUU will be talking about funding again. You can’t fund the once existing and you are creating more universities.
“Universities have become constituency projects and they are all waiting for TETFUND. Federal, state government are not ready to fund education. They are thinking of increasing school fees for students. Is these the way out for education? Government should stop all these propaganda and come out clear and sincerely solve these problems. Blame game will not solve these problems. We don’t want to go to strike after these one. The earlier government act fact, the better. University professors don’t earn more than five hundred thousand naira monthly. He lamented
Source: Ifeanyi Okonkwo