Falana urges Nigerian govt to sign renegotiated agreement with ASUU

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has appealed to the Federal Government to sign the renegotiated agreement with the striking university lecturers.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike entered its 195th day on Sunday.

The varsity lecturers are demanding a review of the condition of service every five years, revitalisation of public universities, and adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) for payment of salaries, among others.

In a statement he personally signed on Sunday, Falana urged the leadership of ASUU and the federal government to pick up talks and end the protracted strike in the interest of the students.

He said: “Instead of engaging in the diversionary tactics of blackmailing ASUU, the Federal Government should ensure that the strike is called off by signing the Renegotiated Agreement with ASUU without any further delay.

“While calling on both sides to resume the negotiations in the interest of the country the Federal Government should be prevailed upon to end the prolonged industrial action.”

READ ALSO: Falana explains legality of proposed NLC/ASUU solidarity strike against govt’s opposition

The rights activist also asked the federal government to transfer certain properties to universities in accordance with the conditions of the collective agreements signed by both parties, adding that some of the properties have not been sold.

Falana added: “For instance, in the 1992 and 2009 FG/ASUU Agreements it was expressly stated that the revenue realised from the sale of the properties of the Federal Government abandoned in Lagos when the Federal Capital was moved to Abuja would be channelled towards the funding of tertiary education in the country. But the Federal Government has turned round to sell the properties to private individuals and corporate bodies at low giveaway prices.

“Some of the properties were sold to powerful individuals and corporate bodies including a multinational corporation. Since a number of the properties have not been sold the Federal Government should turn them over to the universities in line with the terms of the FG/ASUU Collective Agreements.

“It may also interest concerned citizens to know that pursuant to the 1992 Agreement the management of the universities had registered and established consultancy firms to handle jobs by professionals in the academic community in the country. But the university councils people by government appointees prefer to farm out multi-million Naira contracts to contractors nominated by the ruling political parties.

“Through such dubious arrangements, the meagre fund earmarked for capital projects in the universities is diverted as a number of the projects are abandoned.

“It is on record that some cases of large-scale corruption reported to the anti-graft agencies were not allowed to be investigated by the Federal Government.”

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