USA Africa Dialogue Series - On the Matter of a Plea to ASUU to Get Back to Classes {Re: Ayokunle Odekunle: ASUU get back to work

Ogugua Anunoby and the rest of My People:

Like all wars, this ASUU strike will end one way or the other - and it will end on a negotiation table, on some agreed deals, forced by one side or voluntarily entered to both sides. But like at the end of such wars, people will ask "Why did we not go this way BEFORE this war began, so that all these lives were not so wasted?"

But we must now ask ourselves: should ASUU War 2013 end like World War I, in which even the victors felt that they gave the vanquished a raw deal - and the vanquished reared their ugly head again a few years later - or should it be like World War II, when both victors and vanquished - and the innocents in between - were so exhausted that they both said "Never again!" and have been working to avoid that ever since ?

I really hope that it is like World War II, because the toll on the innocent students, the educational system of the country in particular, and the image of the country in general are taking a battering. Whatever it is that we eventually agree to, we must all pledge NEVER to have strikes like this again - the government NEVER to make open-ended agreements with unfunded (or un-fundable) mandates, and ASUU (and similar unions) - ditto. Every agreement must come with

i) FULL annual financial implications over (say) five-year horizon, and with

(ii) room for detours due to un-foreseeable financial exigencies.

I might add a third condition:

(iii) that within minutes, or days - or certainly no more than a week - following negotiations, what has been TENTATIVELY agreed on must be made PUBLIC (as in, say a national advert) signed by both parties, so that misrepresentations are not made the various constituents - because I am aware that in the present conflict, both parties have been less than forthright after every critical meeting....and this is why I have often sought to publish what I know from my limited participation (very belated, I might add), for denial by one or the other. Without these three conditions, distrust will always foul the air between government and the unions.

Finally I would add a fourth condition:

(iv) that deals with financial implication be RATIFIED by Parliament before it becomes fully accepted, because the Executive is NOT Father Christmas, doling money at will, but should be under the approval of Parliament, so that in subsequent budgets, what government has finally agreed is already built in, and not left to the whims and caprices of a sitting Executive.

Let me appeal once more to ASUU to eschew all pique that may be borne from threats, declare victory, and return to classes, and for government to also eschew further inflammatory statements about politicizations and subversion. Name callings on both sides should cease.

Now, from various publications, I have synthesized ASUU's latest five conditions, some new (despite what ASUU has stated), some not new, others wrinkles of old ones. After each, I will make a comment in red:

1. a commitment from the president that any review or reconsideration or renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement will not substantially affect the pact

This is a new one.

It is most unlikely that the President will agree to this - and I won't if I were the President. If he believes that, he should simply say so. There are just TOO MANY points in that 2009 Agreement - remember that the entire package is not just ASUU but NASU and SSANU and NAAT - that are NOT sustainable, and MUST not be allowed to survive.

I will give but one example - and there are innumerable. According to the NAAT agreement, ALL senior-staff Technologists exposed to certain enumerated job hazards - about seven of them - are entitled to a FLAT allowance of N30,000 each per month - or N360,000 per annum. Junior staff technologists/technicians are given N15,000 per month. An entering technologist hired at Contiss 7/2 earns N1,120,895.00 per annum - or N93,408 per month. So purely for HAZARD ALLOWANCE alone, his or her salary jumps to N123,408 per month - or N1,480,895.00 per annum, which is about Contiss 7/12 - that is, he has jumped 10 steps within Contiss Grade 7 - and which is higher than Contiss 9/1 - that is, he has jumped two grades, from Contiss 7 to Contiss 9. A Junior staff on Level 2 Step 3 would jump to about Level 5 Step 4. (See attached Contiss table)

I can assure you that this agreement ALONE can cause a financial chaos in our universities, because TECHNOLOGISTS/TECHNICIANS can be very broadly defined, and large universities such as the first generation universities can EASILY have upwards of 200 - 300 such "technologists" on their staff.

Is that what should not be "substantially" re-considered or renegotiated? Heck, no

So, yes, let us first agree to pay the arrears based on the 2009 agreement, but be ready to substantially re-negotiate this and some other clauses OUT of the agreement - or have many workers fired due to "financial exigencies".

2. the immediate payment of all outstanding salary arrears and allowances without victimization;

This is a new one, but with a history of similar demand. The Committee of VCs had advised the government not to stop salaries during negotiations - in fact ALL salaries, striking and non-striking workers, were stopped at some point - but it was worried about feeding the beast, no pun intended; my phraseology, not government's o!

Moving on....

It appears particularly gratuitous - and against all natural instincts - to ask for (six-month) pay without work, when students and dependent businessman have been severally victimized. I would therefore

(i) had hoped that ASUU, in light of obtaining arrears of earned allowances would vicariously forgo some or all of the un-earned months' pay -

or at the worst,

(ii) hope that government offer that the arrears be paid over a one-year or two-year period, not all at once.

There must be some sacrifice somewhere.

3. a written commitment from the president that the federal government will commit N225bn (£875.98m) annually to the funding of universities for the next four years

This is not new.

Fair enough, but it should be a commitment to BUDGET and place before Parliament for its approval this amount for the next four years. Part of the responsibility of universities is to ensure prudent financial management, and not elevate the Executive into entering into massive extra-budgetary expenditures.

The battle will then move to lobbying the Parliament to agree to our demands.

4. the N200 billion agreed upon as 2013 revitalisation fund for public universities to be warehoused with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed to the benefiting universities

This is new, or a wrinkle on #3 above, based on a need for greater assurance due to lack of trust.

One presumes that it is not ONLY this amount that should be warehoused THIS YEAR, but in SUBSEQUENT YEARS - the whole N1.2 trillion - before ASUU is convinced of the government's sincerity? Is this money to be marked - note by note - "ASUU 2009 money" or what, and who will do the counting? Suppose it is moved in, and ASUU resumes work on Day One, and on Day Two, it is moved out secretly?

Jokes aside, this is NOT a necessary step, because at any given time, there is much more than N200 billion of government money in CBN's coffers anyway. What ASUU needs to do here is commit to work with the VCs and Councils to ensure that the PROJECTS that will utilize this money are fleshed out as quickly as possible, and the demands put in front of government for release of the money for judicious use as soon as possible. For if money is put in the CBN, and the projects are not available, then what? Even if the money is there, and government does not release it after the agreement, then what?

ASUU cannot run the universities - no VC or University Council should allow that - but it has a significant opportunity to have a greater say in the management if it plays its cards right.

5. an anonymous condition, which is said to be personal to Asuu, bordering on the need to be wary of gradual loss of public sympathy

I don't know what this condition is, but clearly ASUU is also concerned about losing public sympathy. But public sympathy can be fickle, and gauging it in Nigeria is a function of what the Press supports and what money can buy, so no one can really count upon it - unless a Plebiscite or Referendum is carried...but we remember INEC....'nuff said.

Let me end on a personal note. I am a Vice-Chancellor employed by Government to manage a new yet-ASUU-less university, but I view ASUU members as generally reasonable university colleagues, but with a unionist edge. I have tried to balance both demands. Never been fully in Nigeria academia for much of my adult academic life, I have the advantage - or maybe the disadvantage - never to have had an opportunity to join or not join ASUU, but it is unlikely I would have joined ASUU as a "unionist" movement as it is, because it is inconceivable to me to conceive of university lecturers as members of the "working proletariat", but rather an elite group with a critical national-security mission, particularly in a developing society. Nevertheless, there is a history about the evolution of ASUU which I must accept, but that must be balanced by competing demands of society with so many needs.

Finally, not all of our governments are imbued with the genuine electoral mandate - and therefore trust - that citizenry demands. Our expectations must therefore be appropriately modulated.

And there you have it...it bears repetition:"Let me appeal once more to ASUU to eschew all pique that may be borne from threats, declare victory, and return to classes, and to government to also eschew further inflammatory statements about politicizations and subversion. Name callings on both sides should cease."

Bolaji Aluko

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 11:50 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

ASUU is not on the path of self-destruction. It is rather on the path of helping to restore greatness in Nigeria's higher education system. If government kept an agreement she freely entered into with ASUU in 2009 with the world watching, the current crises would not have happened. What is conveniently forgotten by some ASUU critics is that it does not speak well of government that critical parts of an agreement freely reached with ASUU in 2009, have not been implemented as late as 2013. It speaks to bad public governance that it has taken a shutdown of the public university system to remind government that she is yet to be faithful to an agreement she was freely party to. ASUU has been patient with government. She did not need to be but she has. Government has been less than forthcoming and dutiful in the discharge of her part of the agreement with ASUU. Government should have done better than she has. The due implementation of consensual agreements between government and lawful organized groups of citizens should be a matter of course and taken for granted. If there is a need for renegotiations, government should not be reminded to do so by a wasteful industrial action.
It is shameful that there are those who argue for example, that ASUU should have known that government was never going to keep her part of the agreement she reach with ASUU because she could not afford to. Responsible governments do not make promises they do not intend to keep. Who wants such a government over them?
The way forward is for government to be more forthcoming that she has been. Good governments do not threaten lawful labor associations when government is responsible for a labor crisis on a matter as serious as university education in Nigeria. ASUU has learned over many years not to trust government. ASUU's trust now has to be earned. If money is government's problem, waste elimination should begin and evidently characterize public spending for all Nigerians to see. If government plugged the convenient leaks in her purse, she might find the money to better fund public university education. More people would believe that money was a problem if government was more prudent and less wasteful in spending. Government's position on the ASUU crisis at this time is weak. She should lead rather than castigate ASUU.

oa

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Moses Ebe Ochonu
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 7:32 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ayokunle Odekunle: ASUU get back to work

ASUU: On the path to self-destruction
DECEMBER 3, 2013 BY NIYI AKINNASO 56 COMMENTS

"One does not fight to save another person's head only to have a kite carry one's own away"
—A Yoruba proverb
As the Academic Staff Union of Universities' industrial action entered its sixth month last Sunday, December 1, 2013, my mind went straight to Ola Rotimi'sKurunmi, in which the Tortoise's obstinacy was retold: Sensing that Tortoise persisted on a senseless journey, he was asked: "Brother Tortoise, when will you be wise and come back home?" The Tortoise replied, "Not until l have been disgraced, …disgraced,…not until l have been disgraced". Tortoise and the legendaryAlaseju must have been created from the same mould. Instead of heeding advice,Alaseju pursued his goal to the point of self-destruction.
Even before ASUU's strike entered its sixth month on December 1, 2013, the public had started to sing an adaptation of the famous Beatles song: All we are say…ing, go back to work. From the beginning, public opinion did not favour a strike, let alone a protracted one, partly because strikes have become a tired and worn-out strategy associated with ASUU and partly because it would put innocent students in jeopardy (again!). It really has become a despised method of seeking redress, especially by university lecturers, in advanced societies.
Nevertheless, ASUU initially drew sympathy from some quarters, including me, particularly because of its main excuse that it was fighting for the students, that is, for the provision of appropriate facilities in order to enhance the quality of their education. No one who has visited any of our premier universities lately or read the Needs Assessment of Universities would quarrel with ASUU's excuse. That's why, at the initial stage, the Federal Government was seen as the enemy of progress. Implement the 2009 Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with ASUU, yelled some observers at the Federal Government.
True, the Federal Government was slow in responding, but it eventually did in a marathon 13-hour meeting, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, with top level ASUU representatives. Stakeholders sighed in relief when the news filtered to the public that an agreement had been reached, only for ASUU to come back with some conditions that must be met. There, I think, the mockery of the presidency began and kites began to hover over the heads of ASUU's leaders.
As the strike action lingered beyond this point, more and more commentators began to call on ASUU to end the strike, if only for the sake of the students and their parents. Many a university Vice-Chancellor also appealed to ASUU leaders to resume work but they insisted that the strike must continue. However, in the process of fighting to save the students' heads, ASUU leaders have allowed their own heads to be carried away by kites. As the Federal Government issued an ultimatum for lecturers to resume work, the kites lowered the altitude of their flight for a better view of their prey.
Funke Egbemode's commentary on this part of the story is instructive: "Now, seriously, ASUU should call off this strike or do what the FG has commanded. This handshake has gone beyond the elbow. When a President sits with a union for 13 hours to resolve an impasse and the union sticks to its gun, you know the end won't be in favour of the union" (Sun, December 1, 2013).
Let me draw on a local experience to illustrate this point. At Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olufemi Mimiko, was initially sympathetic with the union but was concerned about graduating students, who needed to proceed on their NYSC service. So, he appealed to Senior Professors on contract, who, by the nature of their appointment, are not members of ASUU, to serve on an Ad Hoc Committee of Senate to complete the processing of the graduating students' results. In sympathy with the striking ASUU members on campus, the Committee chose to meet outside campus and relied on Faculty Officers and other administrators to provide necessary data.
Yet, the Chairman of the local ASUU chapter, Dr. Busuyi Mekusi, still found it necessary to write a cheeky letter, insulting those who served on the committee. Moreover, he would not allow other ASUU members to provide necessary information to the committee. His posture during the strike is symbolic of that of the entire ASUU leadership, which castigated the institutions that opened their doors for lecturers for one serious business or the other during the strike.
What will ASUU do now that some universities have recalled their students and invited willing lecturers to resume work? Which part of the cutlas will ASUU now hold that the Federal Government has decided to hold firmly to the handle and even to brandish it? Finally, what sacrifice is ASUU willing to make, having held the students to ransom for over five months and screwed the universities' academic calendars? Is forfeiture of four months salary a just sacrifice?
It is clear that the options are limited, because ASUU has disregarded core supporters, who could plead its cause, and despised even its employers. Asked to make a sacrifice, ASUU has behaved either like Tortoise, who refused to offer a sacrifice, or like Alaseju, who carried the sacrifice beyond the mosque, as the saying goes. Perhaps the wisest option left is to go back to work and continue negotiation with the government. In fact, if I were ASUU's president, I would have persuaded my colleagues to go back to work in honour of Professor Iyayi, who died on his way to Kano to attend a possibly consummating meeting. I doubt if he would have committed his life to a fruitless venture, which ASUU's obstinate pursuit of the strike is now turning out to be.
This is not to say that the Federal Government is off the hook. Not at all. It cannot and should not shirk its responsibility of providing quality education to its citizens. Many believe that it is still possible for the Federal Government to explore various sources, including accumulated funds in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and unspent budget funds in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies. The Needs Assessment Report produced by the Federal Government is a document of conscience. No government, which aims at providing quality education, should run away from its 189 recommendations to which funding is central.
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All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 12:23 AM, Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com> wrote:
Ignore the tired over-flogged subject matter and enjoy hilarious rollicking prose. This author is an entertainer.

ipad.ynaija.com/ynaija#!/entry/ayokunle-odekunle-asuu-stop-disgracing-yourselves-and-get-back-to,529d7183b7d8d24162b891e9
- Ikhide
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - On the Matter of a Plea to ASUU to Get Back to Classes {Re: Ayokunle Odekunle: ASUU get back to work

ASUU: On the path to self-destruction

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