By Ofim, Kelechi Ofim
Those who may have heaved sigh of relief following the rumour that the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, NSUK branch have been called should hold their breath.
The chairman of the union Dr. Theophilous Lagi in an interview today debunked the rumour, saying “we have not called off the strike”.
Dr. Lagi however acknowledged that the executive members of the union, yesterday, met with the executive governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura, in Lafia as part of the ongoing process to resolve the problem.
He confirmed that another phase of the discussion process is scheduled to hold by 12 noon on Monday 14th March, 2016 with members of the university governing council, when he promised to relay the outcome to NSUK CampusWatch.
He lamented that ASUU is being blamed for the ongoing strike and wondered why the authorities did not take the opportunity given to them to resolve the matter, instead left the matter till ASUU had no option than to down tool.
“Everybody is now blaming ASUU forgetting that we gave the authorities a lengthy period of time to resolve these issues but they never took it.
“People are thinking that ASUU is asking for money, I can tell you it has gone beyond that", Dr. Lagi said.
He said the law establishing the university is faulty and does not conform with standards obtainable in other public universities in Nigeria.
"Situations where a vice-chancellor or a registrar will stay for almost ten years, in fact the university system no longer run like that. The law must be reviewed to accommodate all these things and avoid principal officers staying in office more than necessary. These are the issues ”, he said.
Continuing, he clarified that the issues in contention are not just Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) but other issues that will improve Nasarawa State University.
“It is a pity that students are having the notion that ASUU is after their ‘pocket’. This is not true. There are other issues except from the EAA; there is the issue of funding, the review the law establishing the university and the release of the white paper.
"Every item is equal, so giving us money alone cannot end the strike. Every issue will be treated on its own merit.
“By the time we meet with council these items will be discussed one by one and we reach an agreement.
On when the strike will be called off, the ASUU boss did not specify the exact date.
“Suspending the strike is a process. We have to go back to congress and then relay our decision to the zonal ASUU and then to the NEC who will discuss it based on its own merit and then decide on whether to call off the strike or not”, he said.
Dr. Lagi wondered why students are always eager to graduate and not considering the quality of education they are getting or the fate of those coming after them.
He said students should be at the fore-front of demanding for quality and standard educational system but, instead they left the struggle to ASUU.
"Our students are being raped and killed, most times by cultists. Students don't have any business staying off campus. Look at how class rooms are being saturated; 100 level students come into the system without being matriculated. They did not receive lectures and you ask them to write exams. Tell me how they'll pass?" he queried.
He went on to state that the system has deteriorated and needs to be sanitized if standard must be restored.
"The rot in the system if not addressed will continue.
"The Tetfund projects in the university came as a result of ASUU struggle over the years", he said.
Dr. Lagi said ASUU have articulated and tabled before authorities all the issues but they refused to listen to them.
"Even the issue of EAA, it started since 2009. We call it excess workload allowances. Situation where a lecturer has more than 200 students in a class instead of 35 students. The workload is too much.
"We discussed and agrreed with them that the money should be paid in bits but twice that arrangement was breached", he lamented.
"We know the university makes a lot of money, just give us what belong to us; each time they give us crumbs. They have compounded the issues until they got to this level.
"We made these things clear when we met with the governor. This issue of pleading; the governor will plead, the deputy governor will plead, the House of Assembly will plead, this will not solve the problem. Let us sit down eyeball-to-eyeball and discuss the issues item by item and reach a consensus once and for all", he said.
...To be continued!
•Ofim is of the department of Mass Communication, NSUK where he edits NSUK CampusWatch & also serves as the president of the Mass Communication Students Association (MACOSA)
0 comments:
Post a Comment