*‘We wrote 53 letters to govt in 16months’ *Says N100b mere propaganda, funds not
released Clement Chup is the zonal coordinator of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in
Abuja. Chup, in this interview, hints that there
is no end in sight to the four months old strike
by the university teachers which has kept
students at home. By Laide Akinboade The Minister of Education recently said ASUU
strike would be over in a few months. What is
the
position of ASUU? I may not be in a position to give you the
official position of ASUU, it is the National
President that would give you the official
position, but I want to tell you that there is a lot
of insincerity on the part of government and,
because government has the machinery of propaganda at their disposal, they disseminate
a lot of falsehood to the general public. We are
not talking about what government wants to
do; what we are talking about is the
implementation of an agreement which was
signed by government and our union. So what government should be explaining is the
modality for the implementation; so far,
government has not come out to say this is
what we will do. Rather, what government is
trying to do is to run away from the agreement
and we cannot accept that because the agreement is binding. Government must be
honorable and responsible and implement the
agreement. To buttress their insincerity,
government would claim, and they have been
telling the general public, that they released
N100 billion two months ago. Up till now that we are talking, one kobo has not been released
to any university, that is to tell you how
insincere government is. So when they say we
would as from next year make budgetary
provision for so so and so amount, the
question we should be asking ourselves is , what was spelt out in the agreement, which we
are insisting they should implement? They
cannot even give you an answer. In as much as
we painfully went into this strike and, in as
much as we are painfully pursuing this strike, in
as much as we want this strike to end, we cannot just end it without achieving the
purpose for which we went on the strike. So, as
long as government does not show any
sincerity to implement the agreement, the
strike continues. Can you react to government’s allegation that
ASUU is politicizing the strike? Well, a thief always thinks that every other
person is a thief; because they believe politics
is all about falsehood, they think others are
reasoning like them. But the question they
should be asking is, does ASUU have basis for
going on this strike? Let anyone of them come out and say no. Does the agreement exist and
did the Federal Government sign the
agreement? The answer is yes. Why are they refusing to implement it? Like I
said earlier, they have the machinery for
propaganda at their disposal they can
disseminate whatever false information they
want and they think everybody is like them. We
are a union of intellectuals we don’t just come out to say anything or do anything, we subject
it to scrutiny. We cannot become like them; it
was said even by government at the highest
quarters, but you would recall they have not
told us how, what manner of politics has come
in and let Nigerians know. They said ASUU has been politicized. How? and it has been
influenced by the opposition. The question we
should ask is by which opposition. We look at
them as politicians and all this claim is a tool by
the Federal Government to blackmail us
cheaply and we know they cannot succeed. How many meetings have you had so far with
the Federal Government and are the meetings
on-going? I prefer when you talk about meetings and
discussions because there have been no
negotiations going on but there are
discussions, because you already have
something to work with because when you
have an agreement, it is a product of negotiation and it took us three years and I
want to emphasise, three years, to arrive at
that document called the 2009 agreement and,
for you to arrive at an agreement, you must
have made concessions. We have the
document, it is for government to honour it.
We would not refuse any invitation by anybody.
The Federal Government has been calling us
for discussions and we have been going. So, as
long as they call us we will go, probably they
want to tell us how they are going to implement
the agreement. It was reported that the Federal Government
has increased the N30 billion it released for
earned allowance to N40 billion. Is this true? The Federal Government didn’t consult us
before they released the N30 billion. You see
the insincerity? We were discussing how to
implement the 2009 agreement and they
simply went and released money to the
universities, without any template, to cause further problems in the universities. So, if they
have decided to add, and it was not part of the
agreement, if they want to give universities
award, they should go ahead. If somebody wants to give you award, you won’t
reject it, but we know that we have an
agreement and you should implement the
agreement and when you want to implement
the agreement, you are supposed to carry us
along. Government is using this to blackmail us
cheaply, and the next thing they would say is
they have ‘released money, why won’t you call
off the strike?’ We are not part of it and we have refused to
participate in it and, in all the universities, you
can ask, our members are not participating in
the sharing of that money because it was not
part of the agreement. Public sympathy on the strike, what is ASUU
doing about this? We are taking that into consideration. You know
one thing about public sympathy, it can easily
change depending on circumstances, but what
we are looking at is the fact of the matter and
the truth on ground. Now if you look at it,
people that are heroes historically were called rebels, even in the Bible, Jesus Christ was
called a rebel, the people he was dying for were
the ones shouting ‘crucify him’. ASUU stands
for the truth to advance the cause of education
in Nigeria. And also the cause of this country
because by the time government becomes responsible, it will benefit not only education
but also everybody. It is will be a stepping
stone, then people will realize that government
carries some responsibilities. For now, we are
appealing to the public but we know we are
fighting a just cause and we will continue. There are people who feel ASUU should call off
the strike and then come back for negotiation? There are no negotiations going on; so which
negotiation are we going to allow or are we
saying we should allow implementation? Where was government when we were giving
warnings? This is part of the insincerity by
government we are talking about. How many times did ASUU warn the Federal
Government? We wrote 53 letters since February 2012 and
each of the letters was made public. There is
none of our National Executive meetings we
would not publish advertorial in newspapers
and warnings constantly. We even visited some
eminent Nigerians and urged them to talk to the Federal Government to honour the 2009
agreement. We told them then we would eventually go on
strike and it would not be good for anybody but
they kept quiet; it is now they realize that there
should be truce, truce for what? All we want from the Federal Government is to
tell ASUU how they are going to implement the
2009 agreement, that is all. Government
cannot run away from the agreement; we must
work based on the agreement. But the Federal Government said it cannot
implement some of the things in the
agreement? It said the idea of releasing N400
billion per annum is not realistic? Who signed it? Ask them. Looking at the kind
of government we have in this country, only
last week, the government said it was getting
ready to bail out the aviation sector for the
second time. They feel this sector is important
because they fly; But they have forgotten about most Nigerians
that travel by road. Is it not Government money
they are going to use? Where did they get the
trillions they are going to use? Nigeria is supposed to commence the
operation of national carrier before the end of
this year – that is more of a priority to them.
Education is not. You see the outrageous
expenditure for those in government. Does
that give the impression that the nation doesn’t have money? A few days ago, the
Central Bank came out to tell us that in nine
months, the nation made over N6 trillion and
our budget is just over N4 trillion. They
shouldn’t come out with the falsehood that the
nation cannot afford to implement some parts of the 2009 agreement. Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation mid-wifed the memorandum of
understanding that they are saying they cannot
release, that is the insincerity we are talking
about. Is there end in sight to the four months old
ASUU strike? We don’t know, it is not for us to end it. When
government is ready, we are ready. What specifically does ASUU want the Federal
Government to do? We don’t want a fresh negotiation. When we
wanted to go on strike, there was referendum
in all our branches and they said until there is
substantial evidence of implementation the
2009 agreement, we shall not suspend the
strike. All we are saying is that the agreement should be implemented. There is nothing new
about it, it is what we have been saying since
the strike started and even before we went on
strike. So let the Federal Government go on
and implement the 2009 agreement. We cannot
abrogate our agreement – on it we stand. We are doing our best to give updates but you
will agree with me that we are handicapped and
we don’t have the quantum of resources that
Federal Government has for propaganda. You
will agree with me that is a challenge on its
own. That is not to say that we are not doing our best trying to explain to Nigerians our
situation.
released Clement Chup is the zonal coordinator of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in
Abuja. Chup, in this interview, hints that there
is no end in sight to the four months old strike
by the university teachers which has kept
students at home. By Laide Akinboade The Minister of Education recently said ASUU
strike would be over in a few months. What is
the
position of ASUU? I may not be in a position to give you the
official position of ASUU, it is the National
President that would give you the official
position, but I want to tell you that there is a lot
of insincerity on the part of government and,
because government has the machinery of propaganda at their disposal, they disseminate
a lot of falsehood to the general public. We are
not talking about what government wants to
do; what we are talking about is the
implementation of an agreement which was
signed by government and our union. So what government should be explaining is the
modality for the implementation; so far,
government has not come out to say this is
what we will do. Rather, what government is
trying to do is to run away from the agreement
and we cannot accept that because the agreement is binding. Government must be
honorable and responsible and implement the
agreement. To buttress their insincerity,
government would claim, and they have been
telling the general public, that they released
N100 billion two months ago. Up till now that we are talking, one kobo has not been released
to any university, that is to tell you how
insincere government is. So when they say we
would as from next year make budgetary
provision for so so and so amount, the
question we should be asking ourselves is , what was spelt out in the agreement, which we
are insisting they should implement? They
cannot even give you an answer. In as much as
we painfully went into this strike and, in as
much as we are painfully pursuing this strike, in
as much as we want this strike to end, we cannot just end it without achieving the
purpose for which we went on the strike. So, as
long as government does not show any
sincerity to implement the agreement, the
strike continues. Can you react to government’s allegation that
ASUU is politicizing the strike? Well, a thief always thinks that every other
person is a thief; because they believe politics
is all about falsehood, they think others are
reasoning like them. But the question they
should be asking is, does ASUU have basis for
going on this strike? Let anyone of them come out and say no. Does the agreement exist and
did the Federal Government sign the
agreement? The answer is yes. Why are they refusing to implement it? Like I
said earlier, they have the machinery for
propaganda at their disposal they can
disseminate whatever false information they
want and they think everybody is like them. We
are a union of intellectuals we don’t just come out to say anything or do anything, we subject
it to scrutiny. We cannot become like them; it
was said even by government at the highest
quarters, but you would recall they have not
told us how, what manner of politics has come
in and let Nigerians know. They said ASUU has been politicized. How? and it has been
influenced by the opposition. The question we
should ask is by which opposition. We look at
them as politicians and all this claim is a tool by
the Federal Government to blackmail us
cheaply and we know they cannot succeed. How many meetings have you had so far with
the Federal Government and are the meetings
on-going? I prefer when you talk about meetings and
discussions because there have been no
negotiations going on but there are
discussions, because you already have
something to work with because when you
have an agreement, it is a product of negotiation and it took us three years and I
want to emphasise, three years, to arrive at
that document called the 2009 agreement and,
for you to arrive at an agreement, you must
have made concessions. We have the
document, it is for government to honour it.
We would not refuse any invitation by anybody.
The Federal Government has been calling us
for discussions and we have been going. So, as
long as they call us we will go, probably they
want to tell us how they are going to implement
the agreement. It was reported that the Federal Government
has increased the N30 billion it released for
earned allowance to N40 billion. Is this true? The Federal Government didn’t consult us
before they released the N30 billion. You see
the insincerity? We were discussing how to
implement the 2009 agreement and they
simply went and released money to the
universities, without any template, to cause further problems in the universities. So, if they
have decided to add, and it was not part of the
agreement, if they want to give universities
award, they should go ahead. If somebody wants to give you award, you won’t
reject it, but we know that we have an
agreement and you should implement the
agreement and when you want to implement
the agreement, you are supposed to carry us
along. Government is using this to blackmail us
cheaply, and the next thing they would say is
they have ‘released money, why won’t you call
off the strike?’ We are not part of it and we have refused to
participate in it and, in all the universities, you
can ask, our members are not participating in
the sharing of that money because it was not
part of the agreement. Public sympathy on the strike, what is ASUU
doing about this? We are taking that into consideration. You know
one thing about public sympathy, it can easily
change depending on circumstances, but what
we are looking at is the fact of the matter and
the truth on ground. Now if you look at it,
people that are heroes historically were called rebels, even in the Bible, Jesus Christ was
called a rebel, the people he was dying for were
the ones shouting ‘crucify him’. ASUU stands
for the truth to advance the cause of education
in Nigeria. And also the cause of this country
because by the time government becomes responsible, it will benefit not only education
but also everybody. It is will be a stepping
stone, then people will realize that government
carries some responsibilities. For now, we are
appealing to the public but we know we are
fighting a just cause and we will continue. There are people who feel ASUU should call off
the strike and then come back for negotiation? There are no negotiations going on; so which
negotiation are we going to allow or are we
saying we should allow implementation? Where was government when we were giving
warnings? This is part of the insincerity by
government we are talking about. How many times did ASUU warn the Federal
Government? We wrote 53 letters since February 2012 and
each of the letters was made public. There is
none of our National Executive meetings we
would not publish advertorial in newspapers
and warnings constantly. We even visited some
eminent Nigerians and urged them to talk to the Federal Government to honour the 2009
agreement. We told them then we would eventually go on
strike and it would not be good for anybody but
they kept quiet; it is now they realize that there
should be truce, truce for what? All we want from the Federal Government is to
tell ASUU how they are going to implement the
2009 agreement, that is all. Government
cannot run away from the agreement; we must
work based on the agreement. But the Federal Government said it cannot
implement some of the things in the
agreement? It said the idea of releasing N400
billion per annum is not realistic? Who signed it? Ask them. Looking at the kind
of government we have in this country, only
last week, the government said it was getting
ready to bail out the aviation sector for the
second time. They feel this sector is important
because they fly; But they have forgotten about most Nigerians
that travel by road. Is it not Government money
they are going to use? Where did they get the
trillions they are going to use? Nigeria is supposed to commence the
operation of national carrier before the end of
this year – that is more of a priority to them.
Education is not. You see the outrageous
expenditure for those in government. Does
that give the impression that the nation doesn’t have money? A few days ago, the
Central Bank came out to tell us that in nine
months, the nation made over N6 trillion and
our budget is just over N4 trillion. They
shouldn’t come out with the falsehood that the
nation cannot afford to implement some parts of the 2009 agreement. Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation mid-wifed the memorandum of
understanding that they are saying they cannot
release, that is the insincerity we are talking
about. Is there end in sight to the four months old
ASUU strike? We don’t know, it is not for us to end it. When
government is ready, we are ready. What specifically does ASUU want the Federal
Government to do? We don’t want a fresh negotiation. When we
wanted to go on strike, there was referendum
in all our branches and they said until there is
substantial evidence of implementation the
2009 agreement, we shall not suspend the
strike. All we are saying is that the agreement should be implemented. There is nothing new
about it, it is what we have been saying since
the strike started and even before we went on
strike. So let the Federal Government go on
and implement the 2009 agreement. We cannot
abrogate our agreement – on it we stand. We are doing our best to give updates but you
will agree with me that we are handicapped and
we don’t have the quantum of resources that
Federal Government has for propaganda. You
will agree with me that is a challenge on its
own. That is not to say that we are not doing our best trying to explain to Nigerians our
situation.
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