The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kano Zone, has cautioned President Bola Tinubu about the alarming rise of anarchy and chaos in the country due to widespread hunger and starvation among Nigerians. The union expressed concern that the government’s embrace of neoliberal policies advocated by the IMF and World Bank would inevitably lead to severe instability and uncertainty.
Dr. Abdulkadir Muhammad, the coordinator of ASUU Kano Zone, conveyed these warnings during an urgent press conference following a zonal meeting comprising seven universities in Kano. At the conference, contentious issues were deliberated upon by the Union.
Muhammad emphasized that as intellectuals, they would not partake in ongoing protests nationwide but instead collaborate with civil society organizations and NGOs to pressure the government into abandoning these detrimental policies. He underscored the determination to employ all lawful means to compel the government to rescind these IMF-World Bank policies, citing the nation’s gradual descent into anarchy amidst the government’s excuses.
Furthermore, ASUU urged President Tinubu’s administration to faithfully execute the terms of the agreement freely entered into with the union, which they deemed as the sole solution to ending strikes in Nigerian universities. Critical components of this agreement include the renegotiation of the Federal Government-ASUU 2009 agreement, which was established when the dollar exchange rate stood at N146.7 but has since surged above N1,700, resulting in a 90% erosion of their salaries.
Muhammad lamented the government’s refusal to endorse a draft agreement reached with the union despite multiple changes in the negotiation committee’s leadership. ASUU therefore implored the Tinubu-led administration to promptly initiate the process of revising and ratifying the renegotiated draft agreement proposed by the Nimi Briggs Committee as a gesture of goodwill to avert industrial unrest and restore confidence in Nigeria’s public universities.
Regarding salary payments, Muhammad confirmed that ASUU members have begun receiving partial payments of their withheld seven-and-a-half-month salaries, urging the government to settle the outstanding balance. Additionally, the Kano zone ASUU called upon the Kaduna State Government to promptly and unconditionally disburse the withheld salaries for May to September 2022 to staff of Kaduna State University.
Among other concerns, the union urged the government to urgently review the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) Act to address the proliferation of universities in the absence of adequate funding provisions.