This is a government that signed an agreement with us on January 24, 2012, to the effect that they would inject N100 bn as funding into the universities in the first month; and that before the end of 2012, they would inject another N300 bn."
.
Dr Olusegun Ajiboye, ASUU University of
Ibadan branch chairman, August 14, 2013.
.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala increasingly is cutting a sorry figure as Finance Minister. And nothing has demonstrated this fact more than her utterances on the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
.
To start with, she announced, as if it was true, that government cannot pay the N92 billion causing the present palaver. She turned out to be wrong on three counts at least – none of which does her reputation as a global financial expert any good. It was poor defence and exposed her as someone who did not do her homework very well before commenting on a vital national issue.
.
First, as Dr Ajiboye pointed out, N92 billion represented a figment of the imagination of the former World Bank Managing Director.
.
Ajiboye, a valid representative of all the ASUU creditors, told us that the amount due to them was N87 billion; not N92 billion. Even for a wasteful administration, overpaying by N5 billion would have been reprehensible. There is a lot of good work which government can do with N5 billion instead of throwing it away carelessly. Throwing public money away carelessly was what led to the fuel subsidy scam which tarnished her reputation in 2011/2012 when she jumped into the fray without checking her facts properly.
.
Second, her statement about government's inability to pay lacked credibility and was soon discredited by the President. There is a distinct difference between "can't pay" and "won't pay". The former admits of financial weakness or destitution; the latter connotes willful refusal to honour an agreement into which government voluntarily entered.
The whole strike thing must just end once and for all cos students are already getting tired and weary....Something must be done to rectify this!