•As FG moves to verify beneficiaries of N30bn earned
allowance
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has instructed the
committees meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to
ensure the immediate resolution of the contending issues, so that the lecturers
could call off their strike.
Chairman of the presidential committee on needs assessment
of universities, Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, told State House
correspondents after a meeting with President Jonathan on Tuesday, that “we
have just risen from a meeting to take some decisions that would end the strike
and the president has instructed us as to what to do and he has shown a lot of
commitments and kicking off a project worth about N100 billion in all the
universities in the country, about 61 of them.
“So, we are hoping that we will be able to see the end of
the strike very soon if, at the end of the day, ASUU is satisfied with the
measures that have so far taken. The Federal Government will also be meeting
with the university councils and vice chancellors within the week, towards
updating them on some of the decisions taken.”
He also disclosed that the Federal Government would meet the
councils and vice chancellors in an attempt to resolve the issue of the N92
billion earned allowance being claimed by striking members of the union.
The council, he disclosed, would verify those to benefit
from the N30 billion the Federal Government had already committed to assist the
university authorities in the payment of the allowance.
While noting that negotiation with ASUU was ongoing, even as
the Federal Government had shifted grounds, Suswam said “the Federal Government
has opted to also meet with the councils and managements of the universities,
because earned allowance is something that can be certified by the management
and councils
“The Federal Government said it is assisting the university
councils with the sum of N30 billion for them to go and verify the people who
actually earn these allowances and pay them. I think the government had
demonstrated some substantial faith.”
Buttressing his point, the committee chairman pointed out
that if the government had shifted its position by offering to pay N30 billion
out of the total demand of the union, it showed a forward movement in the
negotiation.
“Yes, if ASUU said this is the amount of money that the
Federal Government is owing them and the government has shifted ground from its
initial posture that there was no money and offered N30 billion, it means we
are moving forward and with a N100 billion available now for addressing the
physical infrastructure deficit in our universities, I think the Federal
Government has done quite well,” he said.
Suswam was hopeful that the ongoing strike would be called
off soon, “based on some of the mechanisms that we have put in place to move
the sector forward,” noting that his committee had concluded its work on most
of the areas assigned to it.
He reiterated that Jonathan would kick off university
projects, including hostels, classrooms, theatres, libraries and laboratories,
amongst others, in 61 universities, in the first week of next month, followed
by a procurement process.
“Some are renovation projects, others are new and all the 61
universities are going to benefit from one project or another. So, it is not
going to be selective. All the universities are going to benefit from this
infrastructure revitalisation of our universities,” he said.
Source: Tribune
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