Kogiflame
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for the intervention of well-meaning Nigerians in the face-off between it and the federal government as it relates to UTAS and IPPIS.
The Zonal Coordinator, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nsukka Xone (ASUU-NSUKKA ZONE), Comrade Raphael Amokaha made this known on Thursday during a press conference which was held at Federal University Lokoja.
According to him, the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement was the main reason for the strike.
According to him, it is apparent that ASUU, has exercised unparallel patience and explored all avenues for a strike free solution to the government induced crisis in our public universities.
He said this was against the backdrop of the legendary reputation of successive Nigerian governments for not honouring agreements.
“How else can it be explained that we have a set of leaders that pay lip service to their commitment to national development? ASUU has consistently demonstrated that it is a patriotic Union.
“Having gone out of its way to spend from the miserable salaries of its members to develop a more robust home grown payment platform in UTAS at no cost to government. It was hoped this will restore faith and confidence in the educational system and also, to prove again that the challenge in the University System has nothing to do with the capacity of the lecturers but everything to do with the people charged with the responsibility of running the affairs of the country.
“It would seem, with benefit of hindsight, that the insistence of government on deploying IPPIS which was used to continuously starve and subject our members to untold hardship by decapitating their salaries arbitrarily and outright nonpayment for months despite the manifest inadequacies of the platform was a ploy to distract us from our original goal.
“Why else would government delay the deployment of UTAS, a more efficient, Nigerian designed alternative, which has passed all the tests (obstacles?) put forward by government agencies, tests that IPPIS was never subjected to?
“A critical assessment of the scenario gives the impression that government and its agencies are paying lip service to patriotism and allowing strikes to ravage the entire national economy probably because of the latent benefits these government functionaries derive from the Union’s strike actions! The inefficiency and insincerity exhibited in the last one year on the agitations of ASUU by concerned members of the Federal Executive Council and the ministries, departments and agencies under their supervision can only be deliberate because if it is not, Nigeria under such inept and insincere leadership would surely grind to a halt.
