Politics

Ngige’s Fight Against ASUU Is Personal

ASUU Speaks On Demanding N1tr From Nigerian Govt To End Strike

The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke has described the issue between the union and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige as personal.

Osodeke on Tuesday alleged that Ngige authorized the part-payment of salaries to members of the union, following the suspension of its eight-month strike on the 14th of October, 2022.

The ASUU President said Ngige has lost his right as a conciliator, following his decision to take the union to the court.

Osodeke while speaking on Channels TV said the minister has nothing to do with the situation on the ground, describing him as an interloper.

He said, “He (Ngige) has gone to court, which means he has lost his right as a conciliator. Once he has taken this case to the Industrial Court, he has lost that right as a conciliator; he has no said again, but he’s still interloping.”

The ASUU President when asked about which role Ngige is playing in negotiation, he said, “He has nothing. He’s an interloper. If we’re calling him a conciliator, it has gone beyond him.

“And we have found that it was he who wrote to the Minister of Finance personally, not directed, that they should stop our salary. It’s just personal. We are surprised because, having taken the case to court, by all rights, he has his hands tied. He has no business with what we do.”

Osodeke on Tuesday expressed confidence that the agitations of the union would be resolved in the interest of students, parents, and the country.

He further stated, “But to our surprise, the Accountant General Office decided to pay what some people have referred to as half. It’s very sad because professors who are on the same salary scale got varying amounts, N200,000, N180,000, N90,000 and what have you.”

Osodeke noted that the part payment was the first salary paid to union members since the strike commenced.

He said, “The question we need to ask ourselves is, can a Minister of Labour direct the Minister of Finance on what to do? The answer is no. We are under the Ministry of Education, and we thought that anybody that can give such a directive who monitors what we do through the NUC is the Minister of Education.

“It is the Minister of Education, who we are under, and the Speaker on whose intervention we called off the strike because of the issue we said that, one, they are going to pay us backlog of our salaries because ASUU is different from another union.”

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