AS ASUU-IMSU CLARIFIES THE CONFUSION ON PULLING OUT OF THE ONGOING STRIKE: MY TAKE
ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
Yesterday, someone who later identified himself as a Professor with the Imo State University and whom I later discovered might either be a major stakeholder in ASUU or a keen Comrade, forwarded the ASUU-IMSU press statement on the confusion surrounding the purported resumption of academic activities in the school and also helped to shed some light on other contentious issues concerning ASUU-IMSU’s involvement in the strike action.
In the statement which is attached to this post, the union clarified that it was yet to call off the industrial action, and that against the understanding of some people, including myself, the chapter is not in sympathy strike with federal universities but is part of the national struggle for the survival of public universities and has “concrete stake” in the union. The statement also revealed that the ASUU local chapter was already planning for its own industrial action to protest against issues that affect her directly before the national strike action was declared and they joined.
My take on these are as follows;
1. It is obvious that ASUU-IMSU have their own VALID grievances against the Imo State Government, for which they would be justified if they embark on any kind of protest to draw the State government’s attention to their plight. However, there is no argument about the reality that this ongoing strike action is a national strike and the party involved is the Federal Government, not the State Government.
2. My personal analysis of the statement is that the ASUU-IMSU would still embark on its own strike action, as whatever agreements the ASUU is able to extract from the Federal Government will not be binding on the State Government. The ASUU-IMSU, if they were better advised would have held its own congress to declare a strike action on its own, itemizing the same disagreements they have outlined in this press statement, instead of hiding under the national ASUU to suffer our students. The ASUU-IMSU have not gone into any kind of negotiation with the Imo State Government in the last seven months since this strike persisted. Does it mean that after the FG must have agreed favourable terms with Professor Osodeke, the ASUU-IMSU would come back home to kick-start a fresh strike action? That would be highly insensitive.
3. The contention over the payment platform to be deployed in payment of university staff salaries does not concern ASUU-IMSU, as the Imo State Government is yet to adopt IPPIS as a payment platform. The argument by ASUU-IMSU leadership to the effect that the Imo State Government should adopt UTAS for the payment of university staff salaries, while excluding the university from the Treasury Single Account portrays the ASUU-IMSU leadership as selfish, unpatriotic and greedy. How would you want the State Government to pay you salaries and yet still want her to stop an accountability policy that has greatly reduced incidents of wastages and leakage of funds. I wished, I was able to study this press statement before it went public, I would have advised the ASUU-IMSU leadership to withdraw that particular aspect of their demands, because it makes a mess of their argument of fighting for public good. Insistence on stoppage of the TSA policy is tantamount to asking for government to allow monies generated from the university to be frittered away while you expect the same government to pay you commensurate salaries and allowances. Where do you expect that money to come from?
4. The Imo State Government has not treated the academic staff of that university fairly, if the claims on that press statement are anything to be gone by. How do you owe staff multiple months in incremental salaries and expect them to perform optimally? The professor through whom I got this statement confided in me that he was promoted to professor since about 2019 but has been receiving the salary equivalent of a Senior lecturer, a rank he left more than six years ago. This means that at his elevation to Associate professorship and subsequent elevation to substantive professorship, he has not received the financial equivalent. That is the height of irresponsibility on the part of the State Government.
5. The nonpayment of earned wages allowance, pension deductions from 2016 till 2020, nonpayment of a particular month’s salary, amounting to over 300 Million Naira, are issues the State Government needs to look into and find ways to resolve before the ASUU-IMSU embarks on its own strike action. However, it remains my opinion that those who do not work, should not be paid, if the State Government finds it convenient to pay these lecturers for the months they stayed at home and that such concession would fast-track a resolution of the industrial action, then, they should make any concessions that would see our children return to classes as quickly as possible.
6. I will also advise that the method adopted by the State Government in trying to force the lecturers back to classroom might not be the best method. University education is not ekeonunwa apprenticeship where you can fire one teacher today and hire another one tomorrow. The State Government should enter into a negotiation with ASUU and not trying to use threats of sacking those who fail to resume to intimidate these lecturers. I must concede that given the desperation for job and the hunger in the State, some of these lecturers might rush to resume school, for fear of losing their jobs, but those who do that would have forever lost their honour and reduced themselves to not more than street urchins who would run helter-skelter when they are threatened with stoppage of their stipends.
7. ASUU-IMSU on their own must admit their strategic error in failing to give its own individual notice for strike action, and be open to making reasonable concessions, and wait to fight another day. Neither the State Government nor the ASUU leadership must stick to their guns. Rooms must be left open for compromise, if not for anything else, but for the sake of our dear children.
MAY IMO WIN!