Strike: ASUU’S fight not about salary reward – Odekunle

A lecturer at the University of Abuja, Prof. Femi Odekunle, says the
current strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities was not
about salary or benefits but about ensuring an effective university
system.
Odekunle, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in
Abuja, said that the claim by the Federal Government that some of the
agreements reached between the union and government were not
implementable was untrue.
He said: “I do not believe that agreements reached are not
implementable, otherwise they would not even have been reached in the
first place.
“And these issues that ASUU is fighting for have to do with
infrastructure, funding and conducive environment for learning and all
capture such nuts and bolts that drive the system.
“So the claim by anyone to say that certain aspects of the agreement
are not implementable is fraudulent.
“If the Federal Government can put funds into the National Assembly in
terms of salary and allowances, why can’t it do the same for education
that produces the manpower for the development of the nation.”
Odekunle accused the Federal Government of employing tactics that were
creating division between ASUU and management of universities by its
sudden increase of vice-chancellors’ salaries and allowances.
The don, who noted that some lecturers were also culpable in
contributing to the sector’s decay, noted, however, that majority of
the the lecturers were serious and committed.
He said that government should address issues, including the misuse of
resources, corruption of the political and government class, high cost
of governance and other issues that had continued to have adverse
effects on the country’s development.
Odekunle advised the government to address the ASUU strike from its
root cause and not to “play politics and games with our children’s
future”.