MEDIATRACNET
The umbrella group of all Nigerian University teachers, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are asking lawmakers to propose a legislation to outlaw the practice of public officers sending their children to study abroad.
The university teachers union said such a law would make it possible for public officials to have a reason to pay attention to the condition of university education at home.
The Chairman of the University of Niger Delta University Wilberforce Island chapter of ASUU, Kingdom Tombra, spoke during the solidarity protest march organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
The NLC began nationwide protest March on Tuesday in solidarity with the ASUU and other affiliate unions over the lingering industrial action in public universities in Nigeria as a result of the government refusal to honour the joint agreement it signed with the teachers over the deplorable condition in Nigerian higher institutions.
“If this is done, it will build a better society by developing formidable educational institutions and improving funding of the university system in Nigeria.
“This struggle is not against government, but about the working class and against the ruling class, and we are very committed to it.
“If the rich and poor go to the same university or higher institution, I don’t think the strike will occur again.
“If the children of the President, Ministers, the Permanent Secretaries and other officials go to schools here, they will show total support for the university system and the tertiary institutions in Nigeria,” he said.
The union are therefore calling for a law to regulate how the children of public officers enroll in schools outside the shores of Nigeria.
The lecturers in government-owned universities commenced a nationwide strike since February 14, 2022 over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) in the payment of their salaries rather than the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
Earlier, the state governor, Douye Diri, who addressed representatives of the workers body in Government House, commended the ASUU and the NLC for the peaceful conduct of the protest, promising to channel their demands to the appropriate quarters.
The NLC Chairman in Bayelsa State, John Ndiomu, commended the governor for receiving them peacefully, adding that the nationwide solidarity March by the workers and students was in the interest of university education in the country.
Ndiomu urged the federal government to bring an end to the crisis by signing the renegotiated draft agreement between it and ASUU.
”The demands of ASUU are simple: Adopt the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) in place of IPPIS in the payment of university teachers; Pay Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), 2021 and Release of Revitalization Fund, Release white paper on visitation to Federal Universities. Amend NUC law to control proliferation of state universities without funding,” the labour leader said.
