The Federal Government has been warned of imminent industrial disharmony in the country that will persist unless it implements its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU).
The Chapter Chairman, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, MOUAU Abia Prof. Chike Ugwuene handed down this warning in a press conference after their meeting in Umuahia Tuesday during their one-day lecture-free action and listed various unresolved grievances the union has had with the federal government which he stated arose from their agreement 13 years ( 2009) ago.
The MOUAU ASUU chairman said the Federal Government is a deliberate serial defaulter in terms of honouring its agreements and disclosed that the Union has given the Federal Government too long benefit of the doubt to address the issues with it, but that the Federal Government failed to do so.
He described the FG as “a deliberate serial defaulter in terms of honouring its agreements, is in arrears of several billions of naira in terms of the Nation Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS Assessment funds and the Earned Academic Allowance, EAA.
“It is worrisome that the FG even defaulted in the release of N30 billion EAA contained in the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU of 2021 by releasing only N20 billion. Universities’ infrastructures have crumbled, with most affected being students’ hostels and their inadequacies. The implication is that ASUU has been earning the same ‘Slave Wage’ for the past 13 years since 2009”, and urged FG to address the scenario.
The union, he said has also respected the intervention and appeals of well-meaning Nigerians including the highly respected leader of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, NIREC on the matter, noting that if what NIREC got out of their intervention was only a promise to honour agreements, ASUU knows better, adding however that the agreement ought to have been reviewed every three years with the first being in 2012 and which the Federal Government also stalled.
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