Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment and Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, have been criticized over the N100 million Presidential nomination forms of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Calabar branch, said picking up a Presidential nomination form at N100 million shows that Amaechi, Ngige, Nwajuiba, and others don’t value education in Nigeria.
Dr Edor J. Edor, the ASUU Chairman of the UNICAL branch, said the Ministers had exposed that Nigeria’s foundation is faulty.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Edor charged the APC Presidential aspirants to defend how they raised N100 million considering their payment slip.
According to Edor: “Nwajiuba has just done what every other politician is doing; why should I isolate Nwajiuba and condemn him for picking N100 million nomination form to vie for APC Presidential ticket?
“It is condemnable, whether it’s Nwajiuba, Ngige, Amaechi, or whoever. It just shows you how defective the foundation of the Nigerian nation is.
“They will show you their payslip, that this is what a minister earns in a month and multiply it by eight years, it’s not up to N100 million, but they pick a nomination form of N100 million. At N100 million, it would take a Professor 416,000 monthly, 20 years to earn such. And how many Professors do you have that have worked for up to 20 years?
“That means you must have become a professor at the age of 50; the question is, how many of us can become a professor at the age of 50? This shows you that a lot of professors would never earn that till they die.
“Consider what they are doing; is it a show of wealth? Is it to show that their political parties have rich politicians who have stolen money? They are feasting on the resources of the Nigerian nation.
“To come out and say their nomination form is N100 million, they are just telling you how they are, how corrupt their minds are.”
On whether the Ministers value education considering that ASUU is on strike, Edor added: “Of course, they don’t value education; the way Nwajiuba talks about education, you will know he does not understand the university system. That is somebody who goes on air to say ASUU as an employee does not deserve the right to decide a payment platform. Has Nwajiuba forgotten what is called collective bargaining? Does he even know what is called industrial democracy?
“For them, an employer is a boss; an employer is an emperor, an Egyptian Pharaoh, where the employee has nothing to say. No, we have gone beyond that in this modern world.
“There is what is called industrial democracy, and there is what is called collective bargaining agreement, where the employee can point to the employer on what can be done to make things better, and this is what ASUU has done by pointing at the loopholes in the IPPIS and proffering a solution.
“Now they have moved from UTAS did not pass an integrity test to saying an employee cannot detect the payment mode for the employer. They may not know it, but they are bereft; Nwajiuba does not understand the university system, and Chris Ngige does not understand the principles of labour relations.”
The ASUU Chairman also insisted that the body would continue the industrial action until the government meets their needs.
“We are holding onto our industrial action until the government gets sense. Do you think they do not know what they are doing? They have cut our salaries; what else do they want to do? A man on the ground fears no fall; we are already on the ground. We are already inside the water; why threaten me with a cold?” He stressed.
