Minister of education, Adamu Adamu, on Wednesday, called out the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for its incessant strikes, saying the current industrial action by the lecturers happened while negotiations were still ongoing with the government.
The one-month warning strike embarked upon by ASUU, which started on Monday, February 14, enters the third on Wednesday. The strike by ASUU is to press home their demands, which they said the Federal Government has been reluctant to meet.
But the minister who briefed State House journalists after the weekly virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said he had been looking forward to meeting ASUU, “for declaring a one-month warning strike at a time the Federal Government is attending to their demands”.
The minister expressed surprise at the industrial action, denying that he had been shunning meetings with the union. He maintained that he had been the one summoning ASUU in an effort to resolve outstanding issues.
Adamu, who also failed to indicate whether the government can reach an agreement with ASUU before the end of the 30-day strike, said he was not certain about reaching an agreement with the union.
“I can’t give you time. I am ready to reach an agreement with ASUU, but since I’m not the only one, I can’t give you time, but we’re certainly going to reach an agreement very soon.”
According to him, “after several negotiations between ASUU and the government, and an agreement still not reached, it is no longer the fault of the government”
“ASUU, unfortunately, they have gone on strike and I am looking for them because all the issues are being addressed.
“The last thing that happened was that our committee looked at their demands but there are renegotiations going on. They submitted a draft agreement which the ministry is looking at.”
Adamu regretted that the decision by the union to go on strike was abrupt amid negotiations.
On the draft agreement with ASUU, he said: “A committee is looking at it. Immediately it finishes, the government is meant to announce what it had accepted. Then suddenly, I heard them going on strike.”
Debunking allegations that he does not attend meetings with ASUU, Adamu stated: “ASUU will never say that. I always call the meeting myself. The meetings I didn’t attend were those that happened when I was in hospital in Germany.
“We want a peaceful resolution. The Federal Government is ready to meet them on all issues they have raised and if there are so many meetings and the gap is not closing, then I think it’s not the fault of the government.
“There is a solution to this. The negotiations are the solution and that is why I have said that I am surprised that ASUU has gone on strike.”
The minister also defended the discriminatory cut-off marks for Southern and Northern prospective Common Entrance candidates for Unity Schools, saying that it is in line with the federal character principle.
He said the policy will remain until such a time it is no longer necessary, saying: “I have nothing to say on that. I am not aware of any difference unless it is meant to satisfy the requirements of federal character. I think the federal character is required for the nation and it is accepted. There is nothing we can do about that. There would come a time when it would not be necessary.”
Minister of communication and digital economy, Ali Pantami, however, declined comment on the allegation by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), challenging his appointment as a professor of cybersecurity by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO).
ASUU had on Monday declared the professorship awarded to Pantami as “unprecedented and illegal.”
Read also: UNIBEN students protest, sue for end to ASUU strike
Emmanuel Osodeke, president of ASUU, had at a press conference noted that the processes leading to Pantami’s appointment as a professor of cybersecurity by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), were against the laid-down procedures within the university system.
“ASUU NEC rejects in its entirety the purported appointment of Isah Ali Ibrahim Pantami as a professor of cybersecurity.
“From the evidence available to us, Dr Pantami was not qualified, and the said appointment violated established procedure for appointment of professors in the university.
“NEC directs all members and branches of our union throughout the Nigerian federation not to recognise, accord or treat Dr Isah Ali Ibrahim Pantami as a professor of cybersecurity under any guise NEC.”
This is as the institution came under heavy criticism from Nigerians, especially scholars and activists, who described the minister’s appointment as patronising and “an assault to Nigeria’s academic system.”
But when he was asked to react to the development at the end of the FEC meeting, Pantami simply replied “no comment”.
He resisted several attempts by newsmen to get him to react to the development, noting that the matter was already in court.
Pantami was among seven academics who were elevated by the council of FUTO to the professorship position at the council’s 186th meeting, in September 2021
