The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has staged a fresh protest, urging the federal government to address its pending demands.
According to the union, since the inception of the current administration under President Bola Tinubu and their subsequent engagements, the lingering issues still remain unsolved.
Speaking during the protest yesterday in Bauchi, the ASUU ATBU chapter chairman, Dr Ibrahim Ibrahim Inuwa, said the union over the years, remained concerned over the need for successive governments to give the deserved attention to the development and provision of quality education to the Nigerians.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to give a directive for the release of the three and a half months that are still withheld.
He also expressed concern with the federal government’s consistent failure to honour agreements and fulfill promises regarding the welfare of ASUU members, among other things.
He declared that ASUU remained undaunted in its patriotic mission to improve the welfare of its members and reposition the university system for global competitiveness.
The chairman said for more than a year there wasn’t any meaningful commitment from the government to address the issues at stake, such as FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, arrears of earned academic allowances, issues with the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), proliferation of universities, among others.
He said, “ASUU’s demand for a negotiated pay package with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is anchored on the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention No. 98, which provides for the principle of collective bargaining.
“Following the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, it was provided that the agreement would be reviewed every three years. However, the union has been without a renegotiated agreement for the past 15 years. Consequently, after so much effort and pressure on the government, a renegotiation committee was set up under the chairmanship of Wale Babalakin in 2017,” he said.
