Sola Adeyemo 
Following the Federal Government’s refusal to yield to the Agreement it reached with ASUU fifteen years ago to make the welfare of lecturers and funding of public universities much better, the University of Ibadan chapter, and that of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, have resolved to commence another strike by July 8, 2024 should the government remain unyielding.
Speaking at a separate press conference by the UI ASUU Chairman, Prof. Ayoola Akinwole “FGN, stop clandestine destruction of our Universities”, as well as, that addressed by the Chairman of the LAUTECH branch, Dr Babatunde Lawal and Secretary, Dr Toyin Abegunrin, captioned: “Government, safe University education from another looming crisis: Respect collective bargaining and Agreement”, the Union lamented that since 2009, three different re-negotiation committees had been set up, but none of their reports has been implemented by the Federal Government.
Akinwale said that “the FGN-ASUU Agreement reached fifteen
years ago is still operational in 2024, in the face of various socio-economic changes that have taken place since 2009. This accounts for the pauperization of academics and the dilapidation of the federal universities in Nigeria. It is a well-established fact that the public universities in Nigeria are underfunded. This issue has been elucidated on numerous occasions by ASUU and the details are in the public domain.
“Once again, the direct evidence of this under-funding of public universities is the inability of the Nigerian government to meet the benchmark of 15%-20% educational budget for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria, specified by both UNESCO and United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), which has been advocated by our Union. Since
the last ten years, the average budgetary allocation by successive Nigerian Governments to education has hovered between 5% and 6%. The implication of this is the dilapidation and decrepit state of the infrastructure and facilities in public universities in Nigeria.
“The NEED Assessment conducted by the Government itself corroborated this evidence. Consequently, successive governments have made promises and set guidelines on funding the universities in order to reverse this ugly situation. These promises and commitments culminated in the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) of 2012 and 2013, as well as, the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2017. Up till date, all these agreements are yet to be faithfully implemented”, the Union said.
He questioned the deployment of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) as a platform for the payment of university workers instead of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), saying that “this does not only contravene the Act of the universities but also impinges on the university autonomy”.
Amidst several other misgivings expressed, Akinwale therefore concluded that “Our Union has resolved to give the government another four (4) weeks, starting
from 8 June 2024, to address these contending issues. If after the expiration of this four-week moratorium, nothing concrete is done, ASUU would have no other option than to go back to the trenches”.
Equally latching on the dissolution of the Governing Council in Public Universities, which it described as arbitrary, the LAUTECH branch warned of another looming crisis, while calling on “well-meaning Nigerians, opinion leaders, traditional and religious leaders, media, labour movements, students’ groups, artisans and civil society organisations to prevail on federal and state governments to the legitimate demands of our union and allow peace to reign”.
