ASUU: Jonathan has no right to reopen varsities

Jonathan

As leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) meet with President Goodluck Jonathan today, the union has said the President lacks the right to arbitrarily reopen the universities, which were shut down following the union’s national strike.
ASUU was reacting to reports that the President had directed the reopening of universities with or without ASUU.
Its Chairman at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Dr James Okpiliya, spoke yesterday with The Nation in Calabar, the Cross River State, on the matter.
He said: “The President has no right to reopen schools. In the first place, he did not close the schools. ASUU also did not close the schools. If he likes, let him direct the vice chancellors to reopen the universities. But the issue is that academics will not return to the classrooms until all the issues in the 2009 agreement as well as the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the union and the Federal Government are sufficiently implemented.
“In the military era, the Head of State never used force to resolve its impasse with the union; not now, when we are in a democracy. If he opens the schools, he can come and teach in the universities. If he uses brute force, as it is rumoured, he can as well return to the classroom to teach.
“I advise him to sit down sincerely with the leadership of ASUU with a view to resolving the knotty issues in the implementation of the 2009 agreement and the MoU. These are the main issues in contention in the current struggle.
“I believe Mr President has not been adequately briefed; that is why he has been insinuating that the strike is political. The meeting should, therefore, afford him the opportunity to hear from ASUU himself with a view to resolving the issues.
“Remember the strike itself would not have been avoidable if those who midwifed the negotiation of this agreement had it captured in the previous budgets. But because they failed to put the financial implication of this agreement in the budget since 2009, we find ourselves here today.
“The only thing that can bring about normalcy is when the issues in contention are resolved.”
The ASUU has said no amount of threat of forceful reopening of universities will end its nationwide strike.
The union said the government’s threat would only be counter-productive rather than achieve the intended goal.
In a statement by its Secretary at the University of Ibadan (UI), Dr Ayodeji Omole, titled: Federal Government’s Reported Plan to Forcefully Reopen Varsities, the union said the reported threat was capable of portraying the government as anti-democratic.
Omole said: “The attention of our union is drawn to a new report alleging that the President would direct the reopening of universities with or without ASUU. “We wish to state that while the President has invited the leaders of our union for a dialogue, it will be unacceptable to our members, if the government fails to come out with a clear agenda for implementing the 2009 agreement.
“Authoritarian posturing has never solved and will not solve the impasse. We are calling on Mr President to toe the path of honour and respect the 2009 agreement.
“Any proposal not based on a clear acceptance of a framework for implementing the 2009 agreement will, instead, seek to impose a solution regarding the impasse, and will not be a solution to the present crisis.”
Members of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure an amicable end to the union’s crisis and other challenges facing the country.
In a statement in Awka, the Anambra State capital, by the chairperson of the UNIZIK-ASUU, Prof Ike Odimegwu, the union advised that the meeting between ASUU and the President today should be on the implementation of the 2009 agreement, the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the report of the NEEDS Assessment Committee.
The statement said: “Anything to the contrary will amount to a repudiation of contracts, shirking of responsibility and imposition, which cannot bring a solution but will rather increase the crisis.”
The union leader said its members were happy that Dr Jonathan decided to intervene in the protracted crisis.
The chairman of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, (MOUAU) chapter of the ASUU, Dr Uzochukwu Onyebinama, has expressed the hope that the union’s meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on the strike would end the industrial action.
The meeting, which is expected to hold today between the Presidency and the union’s leaders in Abuja, would enable both sides to end the ASUU’s strike, which has lingered for about fourth months.
A statement by the MOUAU-ASUU in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, which reads: “As the national leadership of our union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities meets with President Goodluck Jonathan, on November 4, 2013, we hope that the meeting …will lead to a mutually acceptable fair and far-reaching solution.
“The solution is expected to be within the context of the implementation of the 2009 agreement, the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the recommendations of the NEEDS Assessment Report.
“Any proposal by government should be based on a clear acceptance of a framework for the implementation of the 2009 agreement. Any imposition will not present a solution to the current crisis.
“We, therefore, call on President Goodluck Jonathan to be guided by the principle of honouring agreements in the interest of justice and industrial harmony in the country.”
Ahead of today’s meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and national leaders of the ASUU, the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) branch of the union has cautioned the President to honour the government’s agreement with the union.
In a statement yesterday in Akure, the Ondo State capital, by the FUTA-ASUU Chairman, Dr. A. C. Odiyi and Secretary, Dr. K.S Adegbie, the union hoped that today’s dialogue would lead to a mutual implementation of the 2009 agreement.
The statement reads: “The strike has entered its fifth month. During this period, the ASUU was subjected to all forms of threats, intimidation, blackmail and traditionally known gimmicks by the Federal Government to call off the strike.
“Undeterred by these, we have remained firm in our just cause to get the government to honourably implement the 2009 agreement, which it freely entered into with our union.
“Since the 1980s, the ASUU has been engaging the Federal and state governments on the need to reposition the Nigerian university system to effectively deliver on its mandate. This became imperative in the face of massive brain drain, deplorable state of facilities for research, teaching and learning, poor living conditions for students, gross underfunding and steady erosion of university autonomy by successive governments.”