Francis Sadhere
THE Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, on Wednesday at DELSU, Abraka, said that there was no going back on the current nationwide strike.
ASUU has been on strike for about nine weeks now, demanding for a better deal for the Nigerian Universities. But the end of the strike seems not to be in sight for now as ASUU said Wednesday in Abraka on Wednesday after its Zonal meeting to prosecute the strike to a logical end as the Union cannot afford the luxury of another strike over the same issues.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the Benin Zonal meeting of ASUU, Dr Sunny O. Ighalo, Zonal Coordinator, said that the Union was not asking for too much and that its demand was not a fresh one.
While saying that the N130 Billion released by the Federal Government was a far cry from its demand of N500 Billion, the Union noted that the struggle was for the interest of the common man.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our Union is not on strike to make fresh demands, neither is it ready to renegotiate the existing Agreement, rather we are calling on the government to implement the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement it willingly signed with the Union in 2009. The Agreement was a product of painstaking negotiations and our right to collective bargaining which the Government is making frantic efforts to repudiate”, Dr Ighalo said.
He stated that the Government was desperate to break the resolve of the Union on the ongoing struggle, adding that; “As part of government strategy to force the Union to end the strike, the Committees of Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors were summoned to a meeting in Abuja where there was a unilateral disbursement of N130 billion to them without recourse to the recommendations of the report of the Technical Committee on the Needs Assessment.”
Dr Ighalo, flanked by other leaders of ASUU from the Benin Zone, said the purported disbursement of the N130 Billion to Universities arising from the meeting of Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors was aimed at breaking ”our ranks and is not acceptable to our Union.”
“As a Union, we call on all meaning Nigerians to prevail on the government to demonstrate integrity and good faith by respecting and honouring the agreement it freely signed with the Union. Our members nation wide have resolved to prosecute this strike to a logical end as the Union cannot afford the luxury of another strike over the same issues. We believe that Nigeria has the resources needed to revitalize our Universities and save the nation the disgrace of having to send our children to less endowed countries for University education”, he stated.
The Benin Zone of ASUU is made up of DELSU, Abraka, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, University of Benin, Benin City, and Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun.
The press text of the conference was signed by Dr Emmanuel N. Mordi, chairman ASUU-DELSU, Prof. Fred.I.Esumeh, chairman ASUU AAU, Dr Anthony I.Moye-Emina, chairman UNIBEN, Dr Beke T. Sese, Chairman, ASUU-NDU and Dr. Sunny O. Ighalo, Zonal Coordinator.
