by Oge Okonkwo

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Benin zone,  issued out a warning to its members to stay away from the ongoing post UME exams into universities and urged them to exercise  patience untill all issues  concerning the strike are resolved.

Coordinator of the zone and member of the National Executive Council of ASUU, Dr. Sunny Ighalo announced this to journalists in the state  and insists that the strike will continue since government has refused to implement the agreement it reached with ASUU.

PM News reports:

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Benin zone, southsouth Nigeria, have warned its members to stay away from the conduct of the ongoing post UME exams for students who passed the JAMB examinations into universities.

ASUU further advised all Vice Chancellors of universities to exercise restraint or patience in the face of the ongoing crisis until all issues are resolved.

Coordinator of the zone and member of the National Executive Council of ASUU, Dr. Sunny Ighalo, made this known to journalists in Benin Thursday.

He cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan on the consequence of not learning from the mistakes of previous governments over the recurring but contentious issues between ASUU and the government.

Ighalo said ASUU has declared a total war with the Federal Government and insisted that its members were determined to stretch the strike order as as long as government remains insensitive to their plight over the agreement it entered with ASUU.

He said members of ASUU would only shift ground if the Federal Government honours the agreement it entered into with ASUU, part of which was the effort at repositioning poor infrastructure in most of the nation’s federal universities and improved welfare of ASUU members.

He cautioned that from indications so far it was apparent that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government has not learnt its lesson from the mistakes of past administrations, stressing that ASUU members will not yield to the threat of no work, no pay rule and that all the workers in the universities will also not be intimidated by such action as they would also not work when they are not paid all relevant salaries and entitlements as when due.

“It is clear that the Jonathan government has not learnt anything from the mistakes of previous governments in Nigeria that are notoriously known for flagrant disregard for agreements, due process, and rule of law. Government must be compelled to find solution to the brain drain issue and infrastructure decay in the system,” he said, adding that “this is what this ongoing strike action is fundamentally all about.”

Ighalo also said that “to be sure, all these problems are product of underfunding and deliberate neglect of our universities by the government. Comrades, the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement is fundamentally meant to apprehend these problems and restore our universities to the path of progress and reckoning.

“We are on strike for the same reasons of government insensitivity, unwillingness and inability to keep and implement the agreement it entered with ASUU.”

He noted that the major source of problem in Nigeria’s universities has been government’s gross underfunding of the universities and lack of basic infrastructure and research equipment for sound academic learning and relevant studies by students and lecturers.

The ASUU members in the zone reiterated that the strike was aimed at rescuing the country’s universities from further decline and therefore urged stakeholders, parents, students and various wards to hold the Federal Government accountable for the wasteful period of the exercise would last.