ASUU Strike Grounds Academic Work At UNIPORT, RSUST

As the seven day warning strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), enters its third day, academic activities at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, (RSUST) and the University of Port Harcourt have come to a standstill.

ASUU declared the strike on Monday to press home its demands for the Federal Government to implement the agreement it reached with the union in 2009.

Speaking on the strike, Chairman of ASUU, RSUST chapter, Dr Felix Igwe said that following the union’s National Executive Council, NEC, meeting held at the University of Ibadan on September 10 and 11, ASUU declared a one-week warning strike starting from midnight of September 25, 2011 to protest the lack of commitment on the part of government towards full implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement concerning the nation’s universities.

Dr Igwe further stated that the strike would be total in all branches of the union including RSUST.

Meanwhile, the Owerri Zonal Coordinator of the union, Mrs Emilia Jaja in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt yesterday said that huge resources and time were wasted before the agreement was reached, and wondered why the government was foot-dragging on the implementation of the agreement it reached with the union three years ago.

Mrs Jaja explained that the warning strike was to press home their demands for full implementation of the agreement and appealed to Nigerians to prevail on the government to honour the agreement.

In his own reaction, a lecturer in the Department of Accountancy in RSUST, Mr George Peters  said that the lecturers were not happy going on strike, adding that they had no alternative than to make the government listen to the demand of the union.

Meanwhile, the South-West Zonal Coordinator of the union, Prof Akin Ajiswegiri accused the government of being responsible for the country’s under-development.

According to him, the 2009 agreement was meant to be a bench-mark for reversing the deteriorating state of the country’s educational system.

Similarly, the Chairman of the Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU), Chief Richard Ahonaruogho, has urged the concerned parties to resolve all contentious matters amicably for the good of the education sector, pointing out that students and parents usually bore the burden of disruption of the academic calendar.

A final year student at the RSUST, who gave his name as Mr Samuel repudiated the strike, adding that he had adequately prepared to write his examinations this week before the lecturers embarked on the warning strike.

Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, the National President of ASUU, said in Lagos that there was no going back on the proposed strike, if the government failed to honour the agreement.

Awuzie said that the National Executive Committee of ASUU early this month signified its intention to embark on one-week warning strike, with effect from Sept. 26.

It would be recalled that in 2009, ASUU, under Awuzie’s leadership, signed an agreement with the Federal Government to reverse the decay in the university system and reposition it to play a pivotal role in national development efforts.

The union said that the agreement was aimed at finding a systemic solution to the serious problems affecting the university system, stressing that the future of the universities depended largely on the willingness of their proprietors to implement the agreement.

Awuzie said that ASUU had exhausted every avenue to get the government to look into the union’s demands, adding that the motive of the union’s agitation was aimed at fostering the country’s development.

“After two and a half years of signing the agreement with the government, nothing tangible has come out of it. It shows we are not in any way interested in the future of this country, knowing fully well that education is the bedrock of any meaningful development,” Awuzie said.

Our correspondent also reports that the union has been agitating for an increase in the retirement age of academic staff in the professorial cadre, improved welfare packages, adequate funding for research and development and a total overhaul of the universities’ infrastructure, among others.

ASUU had on Sept. 19 directed all its members across the country to embark on a one-week warning strike, beginning from Monday to press home its demands.

Our correspondent, who monitored the strike at the University of Port Harcourt, reports that the strike was total as students were seen loitering about.

Dr Olubunmi Ajibade, a senior lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, told newsmen that the lecturers complied with the University of Lagos ASUU’s directive to embark on the warning strike.

Ajibade described as regrettable government’s handling of ASUU’s demand for the reformation of the nation’s university system.

“We feel sad that government is not being serious about implementing the agreement it entered into with the union over two years ago and so we equally have no choice than to embark on this strike,” he said.

Titus Emmanuel, a 400-level Geophysics student at the university, said that the inability of government to implement the agreement was worrisome.

Emmanuel said that the strike, though affecting the academic calendar, was the only option available to ASUU.

Another student, Adeyemi Oseni, said that with the current situation, government might soon witness massive brain drain.

“We usually do not know the worth of what we have in our academia until we lose them.

“ If you go to all the nooks and crannies of the world, you would be amazed at the kind of recognition Nigerians who have made their marks in different fields are accorded.

“Even with the bad system, we produce well-respected intellectuals globally but government does not seem to look inwards and cater for what is on ground in order to do even better,” Oseni said.

Oseni also called for a law that would compel all public office holders to educate their children in the country.

“I would appeal to government to look into the issue urgently to avert another prolonged strike and to save the system from collapse,” he added.

Isaac Nwankwo & Eunice Choko Kayode

President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd right) ,Vice President Namadi Sambo, (2nd left),Senate President, David Mark (right), Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal (left) and Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, after the swearing-in ceremony of the CJN in Abuja, Monday