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Saturday 23 November 2013
There is strong indication that academic
activities may resume in the nation’s public
universities early next week, Saturday Punch
has gathered.
Our correspondent gathered on Friday that
members of the National Executive Council of
the Academic Staff Union of the Universities
again converged on Kano to deliberate on
whether to call off their over four months old
industrial action or not.
The NEC members, who gathered at the
Bayero University, Kano, penultimate week to
review the reports of the various university
congresses over the strike, suspended the
meeting following the death of Dr. Festus
Iyayi. Iyayi, a University of Benin lecturer and
former ASUU president, who died in an auto
accident involving the convoy of the Kogi State
Governor, Idris Wada, on his way to Kano to
attend the NEC meeting.
There has been no date yet for the interment
of
his remains.
However, feelers from Kano on Friday indicated
that the ASUU members went into hiding for
the meeting.
One of our correspondents gathered that the
NEC members, who reconvened in BUK, on
Thursday, retired to a secret location for the
meeting.
Reporters made frantic efforts to trace the
venue of the meeting without success. But
many vehicles belonging to the members of
the union were seen on campus.
But a member of ASUU NEC, who craved
anonymity because he was not authorised to
speak on the development, confirmed to our
correspondent that the union leaders were
converging on Kano for the meeting.
According to him, though the union has lost a
leading member and an academic, they were
mindful of the feelings of the students and the
public over the protracted industrial action.
He noted that all the union’s national officers
as well as other branch chairmen had arrived
at the ancient city for the assembly.
However, attempts by our correspondent on
Friday evening to reach out to the University of
Lagos chapter ASUU Chairman, Dr. Karo
Ogbinaka, to confirm the meeting failed, as he
did not pick his calls.
He also did not respond to the text message
sent to his telephone.
Ogbinaka had earlier said the academic
community was mourning Iyayi and so was
not in a hurry to fix a new date for the NEC
meeting.
The telephone line of the union’s National
President, Dr.Nassir Fagge, also did not go
through.
President Goodluck Jonathan had led a Federal
Government team that met with the leadership
of the union penultimate week.
Following the discussion, the FG reportedly
promised to inject N220bn yearly into the
public universities for the next five years. The
new offer is to begin from 2014.
A majority of the chapters of the union had
agreed on the suspension of the strike
following the fresh commitment the leadership
of ASUU obtained from the FG.
Teachers in the nation’s three but 78 public
universities embarked on strike on July 1, 2013
to protest the failure of the FG to implement
the agreement they signed with the authorities
in 2009.
The pact largely centered on greater funding of
the universities, a declaration of a state of
emergency in tertiary education, better wages
as well as payment of earned allowances to
lecturers.
Source – Punch NG
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