By Beverly Ehia, Abakaliki
The Chairman, Ebonyi state chapter of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Comrade Ikechukwu Igwenyi, Tuesday, said the N1.1tr revitalization fund the union entered into with the federal government in 2009 for the Nation’s universities was no longer tenable.
He said the N1.1tr cannot revitalize the universities in the present current economic situation in the country, in which the rating of dollar to naira ratio is about seven hundred naira (₦700) as against N150 in 2009.
He urged the national leadership of the union to go back to the drawing board and review that 2009 agreement with the federal government.
According to Igwenyi, what ASUU needs to revitalize the universities is N5tr because of the current and prevailing economic dispensation in the country.
He disclosed this in a statement in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
Igwenyi regretted that, rather than looking critically into the merits of ASUU’s position on tertiary education, leaders tell Nigerians that University education was not for everyone.
He lamented: “ASUU fixes the salary of members; there is no money to meet ASUU demands; Government will take ASUU to National Industrial Court; Students should take ASUU to Court; etcetera.”
“No nation can develop beyond the level of education of her people and by extension, beyond the capacities and capabilities of their tertiary institutions.
“If the youths who are the future leaders and trustees of posterity are trained in institutions with low-grade resources and manpower, where lecturers are subjected to dehumanizing treatments, all manner of cruelty without consideration to human dignity, threats to job security and salaries, emotional trauma, mental torture and psychological mortification of unimaginable proportion in a developing nation. How can such a system perform maximally?
“ASUU, therefore, is not realistic because rather than calling for a review of the renegotiated agreement in the context of the current economic realities of dollar to naira ratio.
“They are asking for the release of funds negotiated in 2009, when a dollar was less than one hundred and fifty naira (₦150) as compared to present day reality rating of dollar to naira ratio of about seven hundred naira (₦700).
“This implies that ASUU should be asking for about five trillion nairas (₦5 tr) for the revitalization of public Universities in this current and prevailing economic dispensation.
“The about ₦1.1tr outstanding revitalization fund cannot achieve the same objectives as prices of items like cement, rods, wood for furniture, reagents, and chemicals, equipment and stationeries, books and subscriptions, utility vehicles, fuel for generators and other consumables are no longer in tandem with the economic equivalents of same items 13 years ago.
“There is a need to review all the agreements upwards in terms of proportional inflation, currency devaluation, and today’s equivalent of the 13 years old negotiation as part of the Renegotiation rather than demanding for the release of funds that cannot meet up with its purpose now because ASUU would be blamed in future for the failure of the system to achieve the purpose of these struggles.
“It is for this same reason that ASUU is demanding the release of the White Paper on the Visitation Panel Reports to assess the level of success or failure rate so far recorded in the funding for revitalization of public Universities.
“Government has consistently shown insensitivity to the realities of the MOUs entered into with the Union. They will rather choose to keep ASUU distracted, blackmail the Union to sway public opinion against lecturers, and keep the masses busy with IPPIS, the threat of salary withdrawal, and “No work, No pay” when the substance of the matter is glaring and incontrovertible.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria highlights considerations for students when over 60% of lecturers are students at various levels of training while their children and dependants are regular undergraduates in Nigerian Universities.
“Any lecturer without Dr. or Prof. as a prefix is a student. Consequently, since Government has not changed tactics, nobody should expect ASUU to change strategy.
“This struggle must continue until Government becomes responsible, responsive, and alive to its duties and obligations to the people if Democracy is the Government of the people, for the people, and by the people. We are the people and enough is enough!
“ASUU will not back down until the demands of the Union are sufficiently met because it is ASUU members that plow the prairies, build the nations through intellectual and knowledge transfer and emancipate the people from mental slavery.
“They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn but without our brains, muscles, and sweat, not a single wheel can turn. ASUU members cannot be standing as outcasts and starving amidst the wonders they have made. Be strong and courageous because, in this legacy struggle, ASUU will bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old,” he said.