The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Akure zone, compromising of the leadership of academic staff members of public universities in Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States, on Monday decried poor funding of the education sector.
Addressing journalists ahead of the zonal meeting of the union held in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, ASUU Akure Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Adeola Egbedokun, said poor funding of education was contributing to the rising wave of violent crimes, especially kidnapping in the country.
Egbedokun who was flanked by ASUU chairmen of OAU, Anthony Odiwe, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Pius Mogaji, Ekiti State University, Sola Afolayan, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Abayomi Fagbuagun, and University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Abraham Oladebeye, also accused the federal government of reneging on its promise to discard Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System for paying university lecturers.
He said, “The government is insincere about funding education. They are insincere because how can successive administrations arrange several meetings where agreements were signed and such agreements would not be implemented? What has taken us to this particular quagmire is that the government failed to own up to the agreements signed with ASUU.
“At this point again, we have to talk about the 26% budgetary allocation which of course is the yardstick set by UNESCO. If the government is sincere, definitely government will definitely know that it is the only solution to the present problem that we find ourselves in.
“Most of these people that are creating insecurity, the hoodlums, perhaps it was because they didn’t have sufficient education. If education had been properly funded, definitely there wouldn’t have been any need for agitation from members of staff because they would have been paid.
“Presently as we talk some people are hiding in the bush looking for who to kidnap because the government has surreptitiously removed them from having education. Education happens to be the only saving grace for people to live a good life.
“If this continues, we are talking about economic hardship, it won’t be a case of what ASUU is going to get, but it is going to be the case of what is going to be the next accident for the nation.”
Speaking further, Egbedokun said the use of IPPIS to pay part of the withheld salary of ASUU members was against the agreement reached with the union, adding that many of its members are still being owed several months of promotion arrears, ranging from 6 to 36 months.
Demanding immediate release of promotion arrears of ASUU members, the ASUU Coordinator, also reaffirmed the earlier decision of the union rejecting enforcement of Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standard, saying the development of curriculum remains an exclusive duty of the Senate of each university.
He chided the government for disregarding agreement tailored towards the welfare of the lecturers and the universities, noting that despite the good intention of ASUU, the government has continued to unleash hardship on the university system, noting that Nigerians should not blame the union for continuous industrial unrest on campus.
