The Kano Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has cautioned that Nigerian public universities may face another full shutdown as negotiations with the Federal Government continue to stall.
Speaking at a press briefing held in Kano, the Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Abdulkadir Muhammad, said the union is increasingly alarmed by what it describes as the government’s lukewarm attitude toward resolving long-standing issues.
Our members were seriously dismayed and disillusioned with the snail’s pace of the renegotiation,” he said, referring to the National Executive Council meeting held on the eighth and ninth of November at Taraba State University. “It hinders its purposeful conclusion.”
He recalled that ASUU embarked on a two-week warning strike on the thirteenth of October, later suspended on the 21st of October after appeals from students, parents and well-meaning Nigerians.
The decision to suspend the warning strike was reached essentially to create an enabling environment for meaningful and fruitful engagements,” he explained. “However, our hope for a holistic, amicable and timely resolution is increasingly being dashed,” he said.
Muhammad accused some government officials of undermining the process.
“It is unfortunate that some government functionaries employ different tactics to undermine the renegotiation process and misinform the public on the state of our engagements,” he said.
While acknowledging recent payment of accumulated promotion arrears and partial third-party deductions, he argued that these steps fall far short of what is required. “The government has not shown a genuine commitment to address the poor condition of service of Nigerian academics substantially,” he stated. “What government has offered to ASUU will neither significantly improve the working condition of Nigerian academics nor attract scholars from other countries.”
He faulted officials who claim that ASUU’s demands have largely been met.
“This raises doubts about the government’s sincerity,” he said.
“It also shows that the government favours propaganda over genuine efforts to timely resolve the outstanding issues.”
The zone also criticised the growing political trend of establishing universities without adequate funding. “Politicians have turned establishing universities into constituency projects,” he said, warning that such proliferation erodes standards. He urged that the Federal Government’s seven-year moratorium on new universities, polytechnics and colleges of education be extended to state and institutions as well.
With ASUU’s one-month ultimatum to the government nearing expiration, the Kano Zone appealed for wider intervention. “We are appealing to all stakeholders to prevail on the government to address all outstanding issues to avert another round of total shutdown of our universities,” Muhammad said.
