ASUU Logjam: Need For Sincerity

[Shola Sholaz]

IN his media chat with a team of journalists in September this year, President Goodluck Jonathan declared his government's commitment to end the logjam with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, by effecting the changes demanded by the lecturers. This followed an earlier directive to the Federal Government's negotiating committees, the Universities Needs Implementation Committee and the Earned Allowances Committee, to take immediate action to end the ASUU strike.
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Chairman of the needs committee, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, told  journalists after a meeting held by the President with the committees, "The President has instructed us as to what to do, and has shown commitment to flagging off projects worth about N100 billion in all the Universities in the country! About 61 of them. He gave assurance that the lecturers would call off the strike in no distant time.
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Several months after those assurances were given, the funds are yet to be released.
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Investigations at several universities indicated that no one has received a  dime. A vice chancellor spoken to said, "The Federal Government has only sent us a memo through the Ministry of Education that we are getting N650 million of the fund. When we get alert into the University's account we will know how sincere the government is. But presently, we are yet to receive the money."
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So far no university has confirmed the receipt of its share of the N100 billion. This translates to insincerity on the part of the Federal Government.
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The ongoing ASUU strike is not based on fresh demands by the lecturers. They are, on the contrary, demanding the implementation of an agreement it signed with the union in 2009 on the proper funding of the country's public universities. In that agreement government negotiators agreed with ASUU on the needs assessment of the universities and agreed to release money for its implementation.