NDU STRIKE: AN ACADEMIC COUP BY ASUU

It has been four months and still counting that students of the only state university, Niger Delta University Wilberforce island , Amassoma has remained home . This is the result of an industrial action embarked upon by the lecturers  of the institution under the aegis of the Academic staff union of universities , NDU chapter.

From the press releases of the union the issues are welfare related.  The union anchored it's strike action on the non payment of its lecturers . ASUU accordingly gave the government an ultimatum to either pay its staff or they will embark on an industrial action. The governor who was out of the country mandated the deputy governor to meet with the union and see if an agreement could be reached. The meetings could not reach any decision . This led the union to embark on its strike action  that has kept the school shut from academic activities for these months.

Curiously the government has made certain offers and the union has also made its counter offer as the only basis for consensus that will lead to the reopening of the institution. An X-ray of the offer of the academic union reveals the following; Government must pay its staff three months salaries, pay all its graduate assistants who had not been paid before now, sign an agreement in writing of the terms of the resolution. Others include a development plan for the university and payment of all the promotion arrears of its staff. The government on the other hand agreed to the development plan, the written agreement and the payment of its graduate staff. On the issue of arrears the government  accepted to set up a joint committee to look at the cost implications of it while proposing to pay fifty percent of salaries as resolved with other state unions in view of the fall in allocation. It further agreed to pay full January salary as a mark of good faith in the negotiations . However it categorically said it cannot meet the three months full salary demand as its resources are lean .

Although the union disagreed with the government , it went ahead as earlier stated and paid all the staff of the union its January salary in full including its graduate assistant as promised. It appealed to ASUU to be human and reasonable and return back to school while it will continue to pay its fifty percent monthly salary as the case with other sectors of its work force political appointees included while also  promising to implement all other resolutions as resolved.

The union remained adamant to this plea and resolved to remain at home until her demands are met. This in the authors  opinion is an academic coup to put the government in very bad light before the Nigerian public with a very clear political undertone. Now a critical look at the revenue of the state shows that from a total net sum of twelve to fifteen billion monthly accruals , the revenue has fallen to a net of about four to five billion. This amount is further reduced when all deductions representing credits bonds , federal allocations and accounts committee deductions are made to a paltry sum of one billion five hundred in some cases and at other times three billion five hundred million at its best. The state wage bill is put at 4 . 5 billion Naira  on a monthly basis while the sum of about 500, 000000 million Naira is expended on payment of NDU staff on a monthly basis.  A quick arithmetic will show that the present realities in the revenue of the state can not carry its wage bill as internal generated revenue stands at about four to six hundred million monthly. Thus even with such figure the state government cannot meets its statutory obligations. This is the wisdom that the civil service union saw when it resolved with the government of the day to cut salaries by fifty percent. Such measures enables the government  and gives it latitude to within the confines of its lean resources meet its obligations of monthly payment of half salaries.

It's also in the same vein that sixty percent of all political appointees salaries are cut off as a sacrifice towards ensuring that the government meet its Cardinal goals. Lecturers by their training and knowledge are in a better position to appreciate this situation more than anyone else but has deliberately refused to take steps to aid the government in resolving this state of events. It is in this light that one is persuaded to believe that the executive of ASUU has an ulterior motive.

Now could they be driven by their political persuasions in continuing to remain adamant despite glaring and incontrovertible evidence showing that their demands are insensitive unethical and above all highly rash with a motive to paint the government in bad light before the public. Interestingly ASUU had refused to bring evidence to show the government capability nor meet with delegates of the National association of Nigerian students led by its zonal coordinator comrade Pedro Uche who came in solidarity and fact finding mission to the school as mandated by its Enugu congress. The government opened its doors to the delegation and made bare the realities of the state finances. The union has continued to feed the ignorant students wrong information, painting the government in a bad light. Curiously, enough what ASUU has refused to state is that the management of the institution makes a projected sum of about one billion three hundred million every year. What is also so interesting is that they have not come to tell the government that it has x y amount of money and will be willing to part fund its monthly wage bill until things improve as a mark of good faith and  willingness to deal with this most unfortunate trend of events that is common in several states of the federation. This deliberate intransigence and voyage of falsehood has become fashionable without aiding the resolution of the industrial action. It's the writers opinion again that ASUU has failed in its cardinal objective of being very reasonable in her decisions which are always in the best interest of the institution.  The union has become enmeshed in the local politics of the state , an action that jeopardize the future of students and the state in general.

A common question begging for answer in the minds of many and the writer is whether the Academic staff union of the university now assumes to be more important than the medical doctors under the state hospital management board, the lawyers under the state ministry of justice or judges and all other professionals who has also forfeited half her wages in solidarity with the government in view of the current realities of the economy.  If the strike action was meant to ask government to pay workers its salaries and the government has shown willingness to pay the salaries within its reach in view of the realities on ground then the continues strike action is purposeless in my thinking . The executive of ASUU must recognize that the governor is the visitor of the state with enormous powers under the enabling law that establish it hence could be persuaded to do the needful. We are all aware that Rivers State university of science and technology under Governor Rotimi Ameachi saw it closed for over a year. This route is not advisable giving the place of education but an inevitable if the lecturers continue in their misadventure .  What is expected of ASUU is to be reasonable and call off its strike action and work with government on how best not to find itself in this precarious situation.

While commanding them for their great service to the state  while salaries were owed within the worst period of the revenue downturn it must not loose sight of the bigger picture and target objective of the institution. Let us not allow the founding fathers of the state to regret her actions. The academic staff union of the university must join hands with the state government to circumvent this situation going forward. Let them not be seen as academics without a focus or intellectuals caught up in unnecessary local politics with concomitant negative result.  Let the government be ready to pay the lecturers all the half salaries within the period it began paying other civil servants and let the students who had carried the greater burden of a forced holiday return back to their studies and make good their lives. This is a wake up call to the lecturers to redeem her image and return back to work and make the bayelsa project a work in progress. This is the best approach in resolving this industrial debacle.

Opunama Ebitomo
Writes from Amassoma in Bayelsa state.

Source : Lloyd Lloyd.