Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2004.
FG owes varsities N303b, says
ASUU
By Fabian Ozor,
Senior
Correspondent,Lagos
The Federal Government between year 2000 and now is indebted
to Nigerian universities to the tune of N303 billion.
The President of Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano, who disclosed this on Monday while briefing
newsmen on the situation in the universities, said the non-release of the funds
has affected smooth operations of the institutions.
The ASUU president alleged that the Federal Government was
gradually withdrawing its funding of universities, adding that since four
years, there had been shortfall in allocation to these institutions.
According to him, what the government claim to release could
only meet recurrent expenditure, saying no university in the country could
effectively pay salaries.
He said the Ministry of Education and the National
Universities Commission (NUC) were aware of the inability of the universities to
meet their internal needs and accused the commission of employing propaganda
and blackmail to silent some vice chancellors from alerting the public.
Sule-Kano warned on the consequences of the government
action, stating that the money owed the universities must be paid.
On the FGN/ASUU agreement, the president accused the
government of playing politics with it, saying the review of the agreement was
due in June 30 but lamented that since then, the government has not set up the
appropriate machinery in motion.
“Among our members, there is growing conviction that
the Federal Government’s effort to enact the rejected autonomy bill is
planned moves for ending the collective bargaining in the universities and the
renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU agreement,” he said.
Continuing, Sule-Kano warned, “ASUU will not accept
the violation of its right to collective bargaining as enshrined in the
Nigeria’s Labour laws and the ILO conventions. We call upon all those who
appeal to our union when crisis are generated by government’s failures to
prevail on government to respect the Labour laws and begin negotiation with
ASUU,” he said.
On the Pension Reform Bill sent by President Olusegun
Obasanjo to the National Assembly, the union described it as illegality.
He said the unfortunate thing there was that universities
have started implementing the Act in breach, saying that collection has
commenced without the establishment of a National Pension Commission, Pension
Fund Administrator or the Pension Assets Custodian, which were necessary before
any deductions.
