general belief
that strikes and incessant disruption of academic calendar have been
responsible for declining educational standards in the country, the Non-
Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) has said, strikes are rather
saving the educational sector from total collapse.
The General Secretary of NASU, Comrade Peters Adeyemi said strike was
the only industrial tool that has been useful in getting the government to
partly live up to its responsibility.
He said benefits currently being enjoyed in the tertiary education sector
have been as a result of the strikes that were considered to have plagued the
sector.
He cited as example, the N130 billion the Federal government released
recently for infrastructure and allowances through the Chairman of the
Needs Assessment Implementation Committee, Benue State Governor
Gabriel Suswam.
“The government had already pledged to release N400 billion for
infrastructure since 2013; N100 billion for four years. But if not for the
ongoing strike, they would not have released the first N100 billion. Why
does the government have to wait for strikes to even start implementing
any part of an agreement?” Adeyemi asked.
He added that although NASU was not on strike, but that the salaries of its
members have not been paid for several months and that that was the
reason some local chapters embarked on strike.
He noted that the union was currently restraining itself, but could not
understand why its members’ salaries were being withheld.
Justifying the ongoing ASUU strike, he blamed the government for the spate
of strikes in the tertiary education sector, adding that sometimes the stance
of government negotiators left much to be desired.
“Government negotiators have to know their onions; they must know the
capacity and limitation of government. But if, on behalf of government,
they entered into an agreement to provide N1.3 trillion, then the
government is bound by that agreement,” he said.
Adeyemi said, “N130 billion is a lot of money, but is that what they said
they will provide in the agreement? When you know you are not in
position to do something, you should not promise to. You cannot have an
agreement, then after three years come back and say you want to
renegotiate that agreement.”
NASU/FGN 2009 agreement was also due for renegotiation, he said, but
noted that the agreement has not been fully implemented.
On why NASU decided to return to the Nigeria Labour Congress fold after it
pulled out in protest during the 2011 National Delegates Conference,
Adeyemi explained that the decision was taken because of the need to
reinvigorate the labour movement in Nigeria.
“The labour movement is one where you have to fight for your rights to get
it, so you need harmony. We can work together to enhance policies and
strategies of engagement for more effectiveness and repositioning of the
movement,” Adeyemi explained.
He added that the return of NASU into NLC was without conditions.
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