True, my approach at times is instinctively pro ASUU, but I had to laugh at the spirit and some of the points being made by Bolaji Aluko
I'm having difficulty understanding why this should be seen as a serious statement:
'Even the Nigerian government has the option of providing scholarships for Nigerian students in private universities, if push came to shove, '
I am not sure if I should bother to examine the absurdity of this in this context but I could try later.
As the Americans would say, -is this for real?:
'The threat-and-sack-the-lecturers option has been unsuccessfully tried before, but unlike before, and now with 40 Federal Universities, 39 State Universities and 50 Private Universities, the Nigerian student has more options - and the Nigerian lecturer also has more options as to where to work if a particular set of work conditions is not adequate. '
I dont know where to start from in examining what I consider the gargantuan irresponsibility of this statement.
What is he saying?!
Is he addressing a nation wide systemic issue?
Is he claiming to address a subject that will reverberate across the nation for generations?
Is any understanding of the intricacies of social dynamics at play here?
Is any sensitivity to the damage implied by these suggestions evident in these statements?
Is this a kind of political academizing, projecting destructive solutions that pander to the ego tripping of the Nigerian political leadership, making the speaker look seemingly good and patriotic when in fact they are suggesting the detonation of a grenade on the educational system?
More mature responses have been made on various groups, and I will collate and present them.
There are also differences of opinion on ASUU's insistence on conditions to be met before work resumes which I will present, hopefully today.
thanks
toyin
On Sat, Nov 30, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:
My People:I am terribly unhappy about ASUU's present position, and the unnecessary, unhelpful and avertible show-down that has now been induced. To ask that lesser officials than the President (eg the Attorney-General and the NLC President) guarantee in writing the latest agreement with the President - the first time ever that a sitting president has been directly involved in the negotiations - is absurd. No government official would agree to that, and certainly I would not do as as President. To ask that N1.2 trillion be WAREHOUSED at the CBN is even more absurd; no President would request that, and no Parliament would authorize that.ASUU should know when to declare victory and go back to classes - despite threats from all sides - and the President should have been given a benefit of the doubt.Now, something has to give, and soon. The threat-and-sack-the-lecturers option has been unsuccessfully tried before, but unlike before, and now with 40 Federal Universities, 39 State Universities and 50 Private Universities, the Nigerian student has more options - and the Nigerian lecturer also has more options as to where to work if a particular set of work conditions is not adequate. Even the Nigerian government has the option of providing scholarships for Nigerian students in private universities, if push came to shove, and rationalizing courses where there are deficiencies in lecturers' count in the public universities, closing down un-viable departments.But we should not have to get to this, and a re-tracing of steps - again despite threats from all sides - is still possible.Please note that the Federal University Otuoke - like each Federal University - received N646 million allocation TETFUND (2013 Intervention) this past Tuesday Nov. 26, distributed as follows:
----------------------------- ITEM-------------------------------------------------- N milliona Normal Intervention Projects (typically Capital Projects)..................356.00b. Research Fund..................................................................................20.00c. Library Development..........................................................................60.00d. Academic Staff Training & Development..........................................140.00e. Conference Attendance.....................................................................40.00f. Publication of Journals........................................................................20.00g. Entrepreneurship Centres...................................................................20.00TOTAL: ..............646.00The Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education obtained about N200 million and N300 million less each respectively. All that is in addition to the allocation of N236 million out of another N3 billion National Research made available to 13 institutions a few days earlier.My plea is that all the universities should be allowed to go back to work to judiciously use of these funds. The most unfortunate are state universities, the vast majority of who have no disputes with their state governments, but are naturally caught in solidarity with the national ASUU spirit.And there you have it.Bolaji AlukoShaking his headTETFund tasks awardees on judicious use of fund
Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, Dr Musa Babayo, has charged the first batch beneficiaries of N3billion Tertiary Education Trust Fund TETFund, national research fund for tertiary institutions, to make sensible use of the money allocated to them for research purposes.
Babayo who gave the charge in an interview in Abuja after the presentation of certificate to 13 benefiting tertiary institutions, said that the money disbursed was meant to be used for research and capacity building in tertiary institutions.
He said that the excuse of lack of necessary funding for research proposals would no longer be valid.
The Chairman disclosed that TETFund will be moving to the second phase of the beneficiaries, saying that the Board is working toward ensuring that the N3 billion national researches TETFund for research purposes would be disbursed to deserving institutions accordingly.
According to him, the fund would help researchers carry out their research work effectively so as to enable government succeed in the transformation agenda. What we have done this afternoon is quite significant in the sense that when put into work would go a long way to transform educational sector for the benefit of the present and future generation of Nigerians.
The Supervising Minister of Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, at the presentation of certificate to 13 benefiting tertiary institutions, said that the fund is open to every tertiary institution to access in the areas of humanities/social sciences; science, technology and innovation; and other cross-cutting disciplines relevant to national development.
Wike congratulated the awardees on their successful entries, advising them to restrict themselves to the guidelines provided for the use of the funds as the Federal Ministry of Education would demand full accountability on how the funds were utilised.
According to him, we shall be disbursing today a total sum of N266, 570,615.00 to 13 successful first batch beneficiaries whose research proposals have been considered relevant and approved by the Board of Trustee of TETFund.
The minister also charged the management of TETFund to monitor judicious utilisation of the funds disbursed to the beneficiaries and ensuring that the money is not diverted for other purposes but be strictly used to meet the objective of the award.
Wike who said that TETFund has been a worthy vehicle through which the federal government has invested disclosed that TETFund has under the high impact projects invested over N109 billion in the nation's Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of education in order to support their emergence as centre of excellence.
"I must say that from inception, the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan is, and has been committed to funding of higher education and basic research as a means to stimulate economic wdevelopment, spur innovation and advance Nigeria's global competitiveness."
-----------------------
On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 5:41 PM, Segun Ogungbemi <seguno2013@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear All,I am not too sure why the NEC failed to follow the normal democratic norm of delivering a collective decision of its members. I heard that 60 branches voted for the suspension of the strike and 40 branches voted against it. The majority decision ought to have guided the leaders to suspend the strike.If there were fears that the Federal Government was not prepared to pay the salary of the striking Lecturers it should have been sent to all the branches. It is not the mandate of the NEC members to unilaterally embark on some new set of fresh demands without the mandate from its congresses.We have known ASUU to be a dynamic union with democratic principles and adherence to the mandate of its members.What needs to be done right now is for ASUU leadership to honorable suspend the strike. It is therefore time to find a soft landing method and suspend the strike.In my view ASUU should remain one entity and not a decentralized union. A house that is divided against itself cannot stand. To remain vibrant and courageous as usual remains the strength of the union but a regimented ASUU or a decentralized ASUU will destroy its bargaining power.The time has come to reunite or regroup and remain resolute in the union's pursuit of its laudable educational golds for the country.Segun Ogungbemi.
Sent from my iPhone--Permit me to borrow the title of this piece partly from a post forwarded by Toyin on the 25 November on Glastonbury in Europe, to air a few random musings about the ASUU strike.
Prior to the indefinite suspension of the NEC meeting penultimate week, I noticed that members of this forum had virtually exhausted whatever could be said on and about the ASUU impasse. And now that many people agree that the strike has overstayed its welcome, I stand to be corrected, one wonders why the universities are still under lock and key whereas the resolutions taken across the branches of ASUU between Monday and Tuesday 11-12, November show that a 60-40% equation in favour of the suspension of the strike was achieved. ASUU fails to recognise that suspension of the strike is also the same thing as sustaining same since it is not an outright call-off.
One wonders then why the NEC rose from its meeting last weekend and chose to keep MUM over its resolution. Is it a case of a dog with its tail between its hind legs, after being caught unawares? When the President assured of the release of 200bn Naira in 2013 immediately, and subsequently 220bn over the next 5 years, as reported at the Congresses of 11th and 12th instant, why is ASUU still bent on seeing the President append his signature on the 'AGREEMENT', which one can call the 2013 AGREEMENT now, instead of trusting the high ranking public servant that signed the document ?
Now some UNILAG lecturers have chosen to exercise the fundamental human rights of association by giving ASUU an ultimatum, thus breaking the strike. How many more will follow? Methinks the strike is already SUSPENDED and the straw ASUU purportedly hanging on according to the media reports is the payment of four months salary arrears before ASUU re-opens the universities. How ingenious! Some state universities were paying salaries up until last month, so is it everyone that is being owed four months salary as we write? Some universities have not even shared the EAA allocation they got as directed by the government and ASUU is vacillating!!!
Against the backdrop of the plurality of issues, methods and perspectives canvassed over this unfortunate accident of history, it is pertinent to note that a powerful union such as ASUU should not be behaving like the ostrich in terms of information dissemination. Keeping mum gives room for unwarranted conjectures and insinuations. And there you have it. Who knows whether a mole was present in their meeting, to leak the outcome to the ever hungry media. The same method ASUU adopted after the crucial meeting with President Jonathan that had to take the insistence of members at the aforementioned Congress before the outcome of the meeting could be divulged when in fact the whole world was awash with salient information.
The strike has already been broken due to insensitivity on ASUU's part. Let the gates of the schools swing open and let us make hay whiel the sun shines!
Shalom!
'Diran----
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