ASUU Strike: Situation Worsens as FG Not Able to Implement
2009-AgreementAny hope of an early resolution of the crisis between university
lecturers and the federal government dimmed on Tuesday as the government hinted
that it could not implement the agreement it had with the lecturers in 2009.
The Federal Government said it is re-negotiating the 2009
Agreement it reached with the lecturers- members of the Academic Staff Union of
Nigerian Universities, ASUU, with a view to successfully implementing it.
The Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu, who disclosed this to
journalists in Abuja on Tuesday after briefing the national leadership of the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on his stewardship in the last two years,
defended the government’s position.
Mr. Wogu said the Agreement predated the current
administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Jonathan was the vice
president in 2009 when the government, then headed by President Umaru Yar’Adua,
negotiated the agreement with the lecturers.
Mr. Wogu said there were some areas of the Agreement that
needed to be renegotiated if it was to be satisfactorily implemented.
When asked categorically if his statements meant the
government would not implement the agreement as it is, the minister claimed the
contrary.
He refused to categorically state that the agreement was
impracticable, saying its Terms of Reference “created problems.” He added that
it was the reason why government requested that the parties that signed the
document looked at it again. He also refused to disclose the part of the
agreement the government would not implement.
The minister disclosed that already there was a government
team headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim,
which had series of discussion with the union, insisting that “the right thing
to do is to come back to the table.”
He also said that the National Assembly had joined in the
discussion with ASUU, adding that government could only make headway on the
issue if it had the full picture of all that was involved before the Agreement
was drafted and signed.
“We have made offer to ASUU. It is as complex as presented.
Negotiation is ongoing. National Assembly is equally involved. We believe they
will soon call off the strike. I personally and passionately appeal to them to
call off the strike.
“It will not affect the negotiation if they call off the
strike. It is better for them to be inside than outside. Students have equally
appealed to them.”
Mr. Wogu’s declaration on Tuesday confirmed the fear of
hundreds of thousands of university students, who are made to stay away from
learning, that the strike may be prolonged.
ASUU in the past has gone on some strikes that lasted
several months. The ongoing strike has been on for three weeks.
The lecturers, through their leadership have repeatedly
insisted that they would accept nothing but 100 per cent implementation of the
agreement. The lecturers restated this at their last meeting last week with
federal lawmakers and the relevant government officials.
The lecturers, who said they would not call off their strike
until their demands are met, have however said they would continue to talk with
the government. ASUU’s national president, Nasir Fagge, said on Tuesday that
his union was waiting for the government to call for another meeting.
“We shall continue to wait for them until they are ready to
put in place a lasting solution to the current issue, so that our children and
the lecturers alike can go back to school,” he said.
Mr. Fagge added that “… until government starts looking at
agreement as a product of collective bargaining, we shall keep having
problems.”
Official unemployment figure now 23.9%.
Mr. Wogu also put the unemployment figure in Nigeria at 23.9
per cent.
He, however, noted that the figure could be wrong because of
the unfolding events every day.
He also said that only the National Bureau of Statistics,
NBS, could give the accurate figure of the rate of employment and unemployment
in the country.
Mr. Wogu praised the Goodluck Jonathan’s government for
creating employment since its inception, noting that SURE-P, SMEDAN, ITF,
Maritime, Railway and Tourism sectors had done well in this regard.
He said the ministry was at the stage of putting in place a
Social Security Policy, SPP, that would reflect the nation’s needs and level of
economic development, taking into consideration the traditional as well as the
modern socio-cultural values and norms.
“To this end, the ministry participated in a meeting of a
Task Force by ECOWAS Commission in 2012 to finalise the Document on the ILO
Convention No. 102,” he said.
“It is hoped that Nigeria will commence the process of
ratification of the Convention in phases in view of its wide range.”
On industrial relations, Mr. Wogu said a total number of 398
trade disputes were experienced in the last two years out of which 83 per cent
were resolved as at May this year.
According to him, in the interest of sustainable industrial
peace, the ministry had advocated a paradigm shift in industrial relations
practice from adversarial Trade Union Management Relationship to Developmental
Orientation.
The orientation, he stressed, was proactive and built to
reduce to the barest minimum incidences of industrial crisis in the national
industrial relations system.
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