Abba:
Just some quick intervention here:
1. It is NOT the 2009 agreements that are now being re-negotiated; rather it is the detailed FIGURES, which were never part of the agreement. For example, with respect to Earned Allowances, negotiations have gone from N183 billion to N90 billion to N30 billion, the last figure being what ASUU is not agreeing to. With respect to NEEDS capital money, ASUU wants N500 billion right away, FG is offering N100 billion now, and N100 billion per year for the next four years. With respect to the UNESCO 26% target, Government agreed to increase over a 10 or 20 year period (I have to get the exact years), but it has not moved in the correct direction - and it needs to.
2. For a developing country like Nigeria, education is a national security issue - or should be - and hence should not be subject to the massive national disruptions that we experience. Right of association - yes. Collective bargaining - yes. Short-term local disruptions - very short term, very local - yes, but not eight-month strikes like we experienced in 2002/2003, or since July 2 as we are experiencing now. That would be in the spirit of university autonomy, albeit not independence. Government should be sensitive to that, and unions should be sensitized to that too.
At this point, we all need to be working out fig leaves for the contending parties to save the Nigerian University System, not screaming at one or the other.
Best wishes all.
Bolaji Aluko
PS: For the sake of transparency, both ASUU and Government should publish what is being demanded university-by-university, and what is being offered university-by-university in terms of Earned Allowances and NEEDS assessment. I believe that the gaps are different for different universities.
On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 6:52 PM, Abba <abba2007@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks, my brother Idowu. Two quick issues. The first is that I am not sure of the instances where people ``renegotiate" agreements they signed (except if the terms of the agreement allows for a grace period where the agreement can be renegotiated)...if that's the case, then ``agreements" are no worth than the papers they are written on. I disagree here. Secondly, my prescription for ASUU was to make it localized...so that each campus has its won local union that solely deals with its own local issues (vis-à-vis faculty-varsity admin interactions), and not the all powerful version that can shut down classes. I want the government to do two things immediately:1. have it in the law books that the FGN will invest the 26% minimum recommended by UNESCO every year towards public education (and ensure the funds are judiciously used...and not stolen by politicians, bureaucrats or folks at the universities);2. ban nation-wide closure of varsities (a campus can shut down if the union and the admin folks fail to reach an agreement on important issues...but never to shut down all campuses).AbbaOn 1 October 2013 16:43, idowu <idowubobo@yahoo.com> wrote:
You cannot sign an agreement and come back 4 years later to say the agreement was ``not implementable"-AbbaProfessor Abba:I respectfully disagree with you on this conclusion. It is true that you can't break agreement, but you can renegotiate an agreement based on the realism of facts on the ground. Renegotiation of agreements with Unions are going on all over the world including US and Canada. A forward looking and responsive union, always look at the facts and reality when coming to the table for renegotiation. Unions who end up losing are those who say it is either their way or the highway. So I think it is time for ASUU to reason, because they derive their power from the people, once the people turn against them, the govt can do anything with them. I personally, I am against national union for Nigerian Universities. Each university should deal with their own local management and each University should hire lecturers, run programs and accept students based their budget allocations. Budget allocations to the universities should be based on how much the governments (Federal and States) are willing to spend per students/program and how much the universities can generate from other sources.The current idea of global allocation is insane and unproductive.Pronto!!!
Idowu
"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." --Thomas Jefferson
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." -- Elie Wiesel
http://www.bezalelskills.com
http://www.ooduanation.com/
From: Abba <abba2007@gmail.com>
To: Raayiriga <Raayiriga@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 10:02 AM
Subject: [Raayiriga] Fwd: [nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists] Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisis
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Abba <abba2007@gmail.com>
Date: 30 September 2013 06:59
Subject: Fwd: [nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists] Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisisI watched an interview by the President last night, and below is an email I sent to another mailing list afterwards:> The statement (by the President) below is terribly puzzling
>
> ``He said the 2009 agreement which ASUU has harped upon, was negotiated by
> officials incapable for such a responsibility as the agreement was "not
> implementable"."
>
>
> An agreement is an agreement. If folks (legitimately) representing the
> government signed an agreement on behalf of the government, no serious
> government can renege on such an agreement. If this is indeed what ASUU is
> talking about, then I am fully on board. You cannot sign an agreement and
> come back 4 years later to say the agreement was ``not implementable".
> This is a joke. One problem we have as a nation is the ``lack of
> continuity syndrome"....where every new government likes to reverse (or
> fail to honour) the actions/projects or commitments of the preceding
> one(s). That's why we are, in general, not taken seriously by potential
> international investors.>Abba---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Olopade <jkayodeolopade@yahoo.com>
Date: 30 September 2013 04:21
Subject: [nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists] Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisis
To: "nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists@yahoogroups.co.uk" <nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists@yahoogroups.co.uk>
Governments all over the world seems to be a pain to most of the population. Those who want to progress must do so with the little they can get from government and excel inspite of them.MacArthur foundation (USA) sponsored University of Ibadan for 9 years (3 million dollars every three years) with a grant totaling 9 million dollars. With this, over a hundred staff were sent on oversee lab visits of 3-12 months, internet cables were put in the offices of all academic staff, we built and equipped a central research lab, a MacArthur liaison building and expanded the distance learning programs. There might have been more done but this is the much I know. 9 million dollars is N1.5billion over a 9 year period. This money was well spent, audited by a reputable auditing firm. May I point out here that MacArthur started with about nine universities in Nigeria but after the first three years withdrew from most after auditing what they did with money.Now I hear my University has a share of over N3billion from the N100billion for just one year from the FG/ASUU negotiations in the recent strike. Rumour even has it that the VC has the cheque.My colleagues, if we want to work, and know where we are going; we can achieve even in this country. I bleed with the way we are handling ASUU and our academic careers. Fighting wars without a time frame in the background and no benefit/cost ratio. I hear what we gain from strikes but not what we loose.Majority most times have their way and since i have a minority and unpopular view of how this strike should end, for now i keep quite. I end by reminding us that government/ASUU is like a landlord who has built a house and given to a tenant. The tenant can and should put pressure on the landlord to make the house comfortable but the wise tenant knows that at the end, he is the one living in the house and does his best to make it comfortable for him and his family with and inspite of the landlordJames O Olopade DVM, PhD
Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer
Comparative Anatomy, Environmental Toxicology and Neuroscience Unit
Department of Veterinary AnatomyandConsultant, Medicine ClinicsVeterinary Teaching Hospital
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
From: Yusuf Abba <usuba5050@yahoo.com>
To: "nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists@yahoogroups.co.uk" <nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists@yahoogroups.co.uk>
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 3:36 AM
Subject: Re: [nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists] Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisis, says strike politicized - Premium Times Nigeria
I think we all need to go out and occupy "Aso Rock", and this time, let it be for real!The last occupy Nigeria was an utter disappointment.
From: ikemefuna uzochukwu <ic.uzochukwu@unizik.edu.ng>
To: nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists@yahoogroups.co.uk
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: [nigerianbiomedicalandlifescientists] Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisis, says strike politicized - Premium Times Nigeria
I thank Prof Abba for getting a clearer picture of the ASUU struggle.
Its not just about University funding. Its not just about earned
allowances. It is also about government honouring an agreement
willingly entered into. The 2009 agreement was further endorsed by the
GEJ government via a 2012 MoU.
If Nigeria has come to a point where elected governments cannot be
trusted to do what they signed to do, then....
On 9/29/13, Abba <abba2007@gmail.com> wrote:
> The statement (by the President) below is terribly puzzling
>
> ``He said the 2009 agreement which ASUU has harped upon, was negotiated by
> officials incapable for such a responsibility as the agreement was "not
> implementable"."
>
>
> An agreement is an agreement. If folks (legitimately) representing the
> government signed an agreement on behalf of the government, no serious
> government can renege on such an agreement. If this is indeed what ASUU is
> talking about, then I am fully on board. You cannot sign an agreement and
> come back 4 years later to say the agreement was ``not implementable".
> This is a joke. One problem we have as a nation is the ``lack of
> continuity syndrome"....where every new government likes to reverse (or
> fail to honour) the actions/projects or commitments of the preceding
> one(s). That's why we are, in general, not taken seriously by potential
> international investors.
>
> Abba
>
>
>
> On 29 September 2013 18:59, <abdulazizmohammed8@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Is it ever possible to keep politics from anything even science, NBMLS
>> group or ASUU strike? Hmmmmm human nature, I guess. The president said
>> "it
>> cannot change overnight" but somebody needs to tell him that even if it
>> will takes 10 years we need to start that change now. The government
>> needs
>> to take the decision to provide adequate funding or privatize the
>> universities (Swedish vs American model) the easy part. Then in my view
>> the
>> difficult part which is cleansing the academic staff of the universities
>> of
>> the deeply rooted rot in terms of academic qualifications, morality, work
>> ethics, research, mentoring, supervision and many others. In conclusion
>> which do we prefer NITEL of pre 1999 or MTN, Airtel and Glo. Nigerian
>> university system may need to take a faithful decision similar to that of
>> telecommunication in 1999 because what we have now simply cannot
>> continue,
>> I hope, for the sake of our children
>>
>>
>> http://premiumtimesng.com/news/145704-jonathan-offers-no-plan-to-resolve-asuu-crisis-says-strike-politicized.html
>>
>> On his fifth presidential media chat on the Nigerian Television
>> Authority,
>> NTA, the president said the nation's bitter politics had crept into the
>> strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, and was responsible
>> for
>> the refusal of the lecturers to suspend their action despite the
>> government's effort.
>>
>> "In the past, they did not go this far when strikes were called off; but
>> now politics has gone into everything," the president said. He did not
>> elaborate when pressed further by a five-member interview panel on his
>> claim about ASUU demands being politicized.
>>
>> Mr. Jonathan said his administration had made concessions for the strike
>> to be resolved, and has demonstrated remarkable commitment to addressing
>> the massive infrastructure in the universities, one of the key demands
>> ASUU
>> has made.
>>
>> He said the lecturers have refused to accept the government's
>> explanations
>> that broad range reforms cannot be achieved instantly.
>>
>> "ASUU strike is very very unfortunate," Mr Jonathan, himself a former
>> lecturer, said. He said crisis in education, in developing countries
>> would
>> always continue.
>>
>> The president said the biggest indication to his government's commitment
>> to such reforms was the decision to catalogue the perennial rot
>> afflicting
>> all the universities.
>>
>> "Throughout this time, no government has taken inventory of all the
>> problems in federal and state universities," the president said. "We said
>> this must change. But it cannot change overnight. So for ASUU to go on
>> strike over infrastructure, they need to understand that we are serious
>> about intervening starting with N100 billion."
>>
>> The president's remarks on the strike was his first since lecturers
>> downed
>> tools in June, asking for improved pay and better funding for
>> universities.
>> They vowed not to resume until the government fully implements the last
>> agreement both sides reached in 2009.
>>
>> The lecturers have vowed not to accept partial implementation of the
>> agreement, with multiple intervention by the Senate and the House of
>> Representatives stalemated.
>>
>> The government said the challenges of improved funding requires more
>> time,
>> and claims it has made concessions by providing initial funding.
>>
>> As the negotiations deadlock, millions of students have remained stranded
>> at home with each claim of quick resolution to the crisis turning out
>> unrealistic.
>>
>> Mr Jonathan's comments on Sunday provided the strongest indication yet,
>> that, save a change in decision, students will remain at home longer as
>> the
>> crisis stretches without a resolution.
>>
>> Asked specifically what the way forward would be for the strike, the
>> president said he was calling on the lecturers to resume work for the
>> sake
>> of the Nigerian children and to realize that the government was committed
>> to improving education.
>>
>> He said the 2009 agreement which ASUU has harped upon, was negotiated by
>> officials incapable for such a responsibility as the agreement was "not
>> implementable".
>>
>> "Even if we have all the money in the world we cannot change things
>> overnight," he said. "The members of ASUU are our brothers and sisters,
>> they should look at these young people and look at the commitment of
>> govt."
>>
>> Mohammed Abdulaziz
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>
--
*Uzochukwu,* Ikemefuna C. *Ph.D*
*Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry,*
*Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences,*
*Nnamdi Azikiwe University,*
*PMB 5025 Awka 420281,*
*Anambra State, Nigeria.*
*+234 8035476925*
**
*``Whatever is believed can be done´´ *
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