The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has berated the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono for attempting to discredit its 2021 draft agreement with the Federal Government.
At a press conference in Jos on Tuesday, the Coordinator of the Bauchi Zonal branch of ASUU, Prof. Lawal Abubakar said “ASUU members Nationwide are ready to do everything legitimately and lawfully possible including losing the last drop of their blood to safeguard it, get it signed and totally implemented.
“ASUU will not allow anyone including Mr Echono to scuttle this draft agreement while at the same time eating fat on the product of the Union’s struggle. Being a Board member of TetFund, a product of ASUU struggle, he has cornered a Federal University that is solely funded by TetFund and NEEDS Assessment to his community.
The ASUU leader flayed a statement credited to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige that the Federal Government had made a lot of progress in the implementation of the MoA since it has paid the N30bn Revitalisation Fund and the N12.127bn Earned Allowance, describing it as false.
“Which promise have they kept? Is the MoA just about Earned Academic Allowance or do you think by throwing money that is rightly ours, we would forget the other aspect of the MoA?” he asked.
Represented by the immediate past Bauchi Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Professor Nanmwa Voncir, Abubakar expressed displeasure that the Federal Government was working with the state governments to kill University education in the country through the proliferation of higher institutions without adequate funding.
“The only reason why the Federal Government has failed to stop the state governments from establishing new universities when the existing ones are grossly underfunded is that it is guilty of the same offence in addition to the pecuniary gains which those responsible are making.”