Olufemi Atoyebi and Ademola Babalola
The Academic Staff Union of
Universities on Sunday denied receiving the sum of N163bn from
government in a bid to suspend the three-month old strike.
In a
statement titled, ‘Re: N163bn released to ASUU: Putting the record
straight,’ signed by the Ibadan zonal coordinator of the union, Dr Ade
Adejumo, the union, said, “Once again, the attention of our union has
been drawn to another piece of misinformation which gives the impression
that ASUU collects money from government.
“For umpteenth time,
let it be known that our union is a patriotic organisation whose
activities are driven by principled conviction that the resources of the
country can better be managed for the ultimate benefit of the Nigerian
society, especially the education sector which is our immediate
constituency.
“The government and all civilised individuals are
aware of how the university is managed, so also the resources available
to it. The government knows that it is the council and the university
administration that receive and spend all the money coming into the
university. ASUU doesn’t receive money from government and doesn’t spend
it.”
It added, “Even money meant for our salaries and other
allowances come directly to the university administration which prepares
the budget and manages it. ASUU members collect only their salaries as
paid by the university. Contracts and all the capital projects are
awarded by the councils that are appointed by the government, not ASUU.
“It
is in the context of the above that our union calls on the
vice-chancellors and council chairmen to stop behaving like vultures
that wait silently by the sidelines, waiting for the game to fall only
to descend on the carcass.
“They should join forces with ASUU in
its struggles to attract requisite funding into our public universities
rather than working at cross purposes with us. Part of the least
expected from them is to come out openly to put the record straight each
time the government comes out with the deliberate falsehood that money
has been released to ASUU.”
The President of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, had earlier on Saturday,
similarly said that the Federal Government claim that it released N163bn
to settle part of the demands of the union was misleading.
Ogunyemi,
who spoke on the sidelines of the Nigeria Labour Congress meeting in
Abuja, said, “The minister referred to the release of N163bn but that
was not released by the Ministry of Education to revitalisation. That
fund he alluded to was from TETFUND. TETFUND was there when we carried
out the NEEDS Assessment in 2012. What we called Revitalisation Fund
today is a product of that exercise of 2012. We have always drawn a line
of distinction between what TETFUND gives and what we should access
from the NEEDS Assessment Fund.
“They are different terms of
intervention that should not be equated to one. TETFUND as an
intervention agent is ASUU’s brainchild which became a reality. The
funds from NEEDS Assessment is to fix specific items of deficiency in
our system. Both Federal and state governments have now relinquished
their responsibilities to TETFUND, they now hold on to it.”
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