Ngige, ASUU trade blame, strike national embarrassment, say Reps

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, at a closed-door meeting with leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in Abuja on Tuesday faulted the union’s claim that the government refused to implement agreement reached with it.

The ministry’s spokesman, Charles Akpan, disclosed this in a press statement made available to journalists while the meeting was still ongoing.

The statement quoted Ngige as saying that “All the issues in the agreement are being religiously implemented, including but not limited to the payment of Earned Academic Allowances through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

“Most of the issues in 2020 agreement which moved over to 2021, and for which we met in October 2021 to take progress report on, are all works in progress.

“So, it is wrong for you to say nobody is doing anything on the MOA.”  But ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, blamed the Federal Government for the ongoing strike, alleging that apart from not implementing the 2020 Memorandum of Action, government also failed to convene the regular implementation monitoring meeting as agreed.

ASUU insisted that calling off the industrial action depends entirely on the Federal Government as members were determined not to shift ground until their demands are met.

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Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with ASUU in order to end the ongoing strike by the university lecturers.

At plenary on Tuesday, the House urged the Ministry of Labour and Employment and ASUU to “adhere to the clauses and provisions of the previous Memorandum of Understanding and the Memorandum of Action in the interest of Nigerian students and education sector in Nigeria and call off the warning strike.”

 The House also mandated its Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity and Committee on Tertiary Education and Services to interface with the Ministries of Labour and Employment; Education; Civil Society Organisations; Nigeria Inter-Religious Council and ASUU to “address the outstanding issues that are precipitating the current warning strike by members of ASUU.”

These resolutions followed the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member, Dozie Nwankwo, titled ‘Urgent need to address the frequent strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.’

Nwankwo recalled the meetings by the relevant stakeholders which led to the call off of the ASUU strike that lasted nine months – from March to December 2020.

The lawmaker decried the “individual and corporate pains the strike action inflicted on Nigerian students, parents and the education sector, to the extent that it disrupted the academic calendar and impacted negatively on the teaching staff, their families and the depreciating standards of Nigeria’s public universities.”

 He noted the “benefits and advantages” of the demands of ASUU on the overall interests of Nigeria’s public institutions and the well-being of the personnel, which includes funding for the revitalisation of public universities and signing and implementation of the renegotiated 2009 FGN- ASUU Agreement, amongst others.

Nwankwo said, “The House is disturbed that shortly after the last horrendous experience by Nigerians, a one-month warning strike action by members of ASUU has commenced with effect from February 14, 2022, despite all previous efforts to resolve the contending issues. Such efforts include that of the Speaker, House of Representatives (Femi Gbajabiamila) and other stakeholders, which included members of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council.

Punch