Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja Branch, Mr. Monday UbaniThe Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities not to end its ongoing strike which started on July 1, 2013 unless its demands are met by the Federal Government.
Chairman of the branch, Mr. Monday Ubani, at a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday, said the union should stick to its demands to avoid the need for embarking on another round of strike action in few months time.
The demands of the university teachers include the N87bn which the Federal Government agreed to pay to them in 2009 as arrears of their earned allowances.
Ubani, while fielding questions from journalists, said, “I will like ASUU not to call off the strike for now so that this issue can be addressed once and for all.
“They should not renege on the agreement and call off the strike only to embark on another one again in the next few months.”
Ubani, who addressed the press alongside other members of his executive council, said the strike was a blow to the educational system and that it was caused by the Federal Government’s misplaced priorities.
He said, “We are confused with the priorities of this government. While they said they have no money to rescue our educational sector, they are busy buying another jet to add to the fleet jet already owned by the Presidency and organising jamboree of high class women in Abuja with millions of naira.”
In a related development, Niger State governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has denied a media report which quoted him as saying that the team of negotiators on the side of the federal government in the ongoing talks with members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is incompetent.
A national daily had in a report on Wednesday quoted Governor Aliyu as “doubting the abilities of the negotiators on the side of the federal government to achieve any breakthrough in the ongoing dialogue with the lecturers.”
But in a reaction, Governor Aliyu’s chief press secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, described the story as untrue, urging the reading public to disregard the report.
He said the report was misleading and to all intents and purposes and did not reflect Governor Aliyu’s comments at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja where the Niger State’s helmsman addressed a continental workshop on the 3rd Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE).
“What Governor Aliyu said is that federal government can afford to offer free basic and senior secondary education while heavily subsidising tertiary education if government officials cut down on spending public funds unnecessarily,” Ndayebo said.
“Governor Aliyu then encouraged constant dialogue between labour unions and government, stressing that strikes were unheard of in other West African countries because there was constant dialogue between the unions and government” the statement said.
The statement urged media organisations to always crosscheck their facts before going to press.
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