Olukayode Babalola
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) branch has held a peaceful protest over the proliferation of universities and other unattended issues with the federal government.
Prof. Samuel Alu, Chairman of the ASUU NSUK branch made this known at a press conference held in Keffi local government area of Nasarawa state on Tuesday shortly after holding a peaceful protest in the university.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that members of the union in NSUK held placards with inscriptions “Our agreement must be respected”, “Save the Ivory Tower from total collapse”, “Keep to agreement” among others.
According to Alu, one of the issues still unresolved in the engagement with the federal government is the proliferation of universities across the country which had led to series of strike actions by the union between 2020 and 2022.
He said federal and state governments had continue to create universities without plans for their funding hence the demand by ASUU on the need to review the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) Act to make it more potent in arresting reckless establishment of universities be fully implemented.
“This recently came to a worrisome height when a state governor boastfully declared to establish ten universities in his state before the end of his tenure.
“Also, rather than supporting ASUU ‘s advocacy for adequate funding, each Senator is pushing for the establishment of a university as part of their constituency projects.
“While Visitors of State Universities who could not find existing universities are creating two or more purely for electoral gains,” he said.
He pointed out that the trend has put much stress on the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) hence the the need to urge the President Bola Tinubu’s administration to refrain from further proliferation of universities and refocus the system.
Alu said several other issues on which ASUU has been engaging the federal and state governments in the last decade that are yet to be addressed which led to the peaceful protest on Tuesday include the review of the 2009 Federal Government of Nigeria-ASUU agreement.
Others are revitalization fund for public universities, earned academic allowances (EAA), withheld salaries, promotion arrears and Third-party deductions of members of union, illegal recruitment.
The ASUU NSUK branch chairman also called on the Visitors of some state owned universities to as a matter of urgency implement the Wage Award as approved by the federal government for civil servants.
“Giving a critical review of the state of affairs in our universities, the ASUU NSUK branch condemns in strong terms the refusal of federal and state governments to decisively address all outstanding issues with the union,” he said. (NAN) (nannews.ng)