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The South-east stakeholders meeting convened by the governors to find a way out of the strike by lecturers in the zone turned sour when ASUU leadership and members walked out in protest.
Chairman of the South-east Governors’ Forum, Mr. Peter Obi, had during accreditation for the meeting at the Nike Lake Resort Enugu announced that only Igbo speaking lecturers would be allowed in.

The lecturers, who viewed the announcement as a ploy to stop the national leadership of ASUU from participating, protested the decision and were consequently manhandled by security agents.

The coordinator of the ASUU strike in the zone, Dr. Emmanuel Osedeke, expressed shock that the governor could introduce ethnicity into the university system; “its unfortunate and we decided to walk out.” He alleged that Mr. Obi was out to prolong the strike because he wasn’t going to be part of the 2011 elections, “and his children are not here.” Osedeke declared that the strike would continue until the owners of the universities tell the governors that they were not a local institution; “because the governors did not own the schools.”

He lamented the assault unleashed on ASUU members, pointing out that they no longer feel safe; “the last time we came to Enugu, the governor unleashed dogs on us; so if there will be another meeting, it will be at a neutral ground. One of the lecturers, who was molested by the security agents, Mr. Ogbonna Onuoha, from Abia State University, narrated how a policeman held him on the head and tried to push him down; “when I recovered, his fingers were pointed towards my eyes as he threatened to blind me.

“And as we tried to go, they attempted to kidnap us; they held us hostage and even turned our students against us.”
Efforts to bring the lecturers back to the meeting failed and at the end, a committee was set up to look into the face-off and see the best way to resolve the problem. The committee, which was jointly headed by the Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma and former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, announced that negotiation had been taken over by them. Bishop Chukwuma, who briefed newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, said it was agreed that a neutral body outside the governors and lecturers should handle the negotiation and come up with a conclusion.

He urged ASUU to appreciate the intervention and re-open the universities with the hope that agreement would be reached. Among the stakeholders that attended were the five governors of the zone, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman South-east Tradtional Rulers, Eze Cletus Illomanya, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Chief Hope Uzodimma, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, Senator Ayogu Eze, among others.

Hopes that the 109-day-old strike by public university lecturers would be called off on Tuesday have been dashed, as the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities asked Nigerians to wait till Friday for its final decision on the issue.

The National Executive Council of ASUU had met on Tuesday night to deliberate on the new offer presented to the union’s negotiating team by the Federal Government, after the intervention of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

Many had hoped that the outcome of the meeting would result in the suspension of the strike.

But a top source at the meeting confided in one of our correspondents that the NEC decided that branch chairmen of the union should go back to their respective chapters to brief lecturers about the offer and the position to take thereafter.

“The strike is not yet over. You have to wait till Friday when the national president, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, will brief the press on our position on the current action. For now, the NEC’s directive is that we should go back to our various universities to brief our members, after which we will get back to the NEC and on Friday, this week, a press conference will hold, where our position will be made known to the public,” the source revealed.



Asked to comment on the new offer by the government, the source told our correspondent to wait till Friday. The source only said that the government had shifted it’s earlier position on earlier refusal to sign the agreement on behalf of the state governments.

The ASUU president also expressed a similar view in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Tuesday, saying that the issues involved would have to be discussed at the local chapter level before a final decision would be reached.

He said, “The decision is that state chapters of the union have to make their input in line with the democratic principles of the union.”

Asked to comment on the areas of contention, Awuzie said he could not do that since our correspondent was not a member of the NEC.

He said, “If I tell you the areas of discussion, then you have become a member of the NEC. Are you a member of NEC?”

But he said that no date had been fixed for the reconvening of the NEC meeting.

“We have not taken any specific date yet, but they have to make their input soonest. That means we have to get their input as soon as possible,” he said.

But the top source at the NEC meeting, which held behind closed doors on Tuesday, said that Friday had been picked as the day that the final decision would be made known to the public.

Another source, who attended the NEC meeting, said that members expressed divergent opinions on the proposal by the Federal Government that individual universities should decide the remuneration of lecturers.

Some had insisted that the state universities should be adequately catered for in the negotiations.

The decision by ASUU to call the NEC meeting was taken last Friday after several meetings with the Edo State governor and the Federal Government team.

Though the Chairman, ASUU, University of Lagos Chapter, Dr. Ayo Olowe, confirmed that the union would brief the media on Friday, he refused to comment on the details of Tuesday’s meeting.

“Just wait, exercise some patience. By Friday you will know the union’s position,” he said.

Meanwhile, priests in the Anglican Dioceses of Akure and Ife East have called on the Federal Government to put an end to the strike.

They lamented that the delay in resolving the crisis which had kept students at home for the past four months, had caused more harm than good.

THE Federal Government, on Monday, expressed serious concern over what it described as the too rigid stance of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) on the crisis in the university system and the negotiations with the union, saying that ASUU was causing a lot of problems in the system.
To this end, the Federal Government has concluded plans to enforce the 'no work, no pay' rule if the university teachers failed to suspend the strike and allow negotiation to continue. And hotnaijanews learnt yesterday that the Federal Government had warned that it would punish university administrators who paid the striking teachers.
Besides, the Industrial Arbitration Panel is also set to enforce the rule, having begun the hearing of the case instituted against ASUU by the Federal Government over the strike in the universities.
Minister of Labour, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, spoke with journalists on how the ASUU was allegedly frustrating Federal Government's efforts


the crisis, even as the government negotiating team announced on Monday that it had stopped its negotiations with ASUU, because the union had refused to suspend the strike to create an enabling environment for them to discuss.
"The Government Team endeavoured to facilitate the conclusion of these negotiations at the strict employer-employee level. Unfortunately, that effort has been stalled by the current strike. We, therefore, cannot get to the point where the councils can receive the documents and speedily conclude the negotiations for implementation,
"Consequently, the government team is not in a position to continue further negotiations with the union until it suspends its strike to provide an enabling environment for them," Chairman of the FGN/ASUU Re-Negotiation Committee, Mr. Gamaliel Onasode, who is also the leader of government team, said on Monday.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, made a phone call to the Minister of Labour, Prince Kayode,
, and said it was time for laws to take their full effect, saying that "as it is now, they (ASUU members) are trying to force the government to implement the "no work no pay rule."
He added: "Government has warned Nigerian workers over time that if they don't work they won't get paid." Prince Kayode stated that ASUU was causing a lot of problems, because the agreement was that both sides should go to a roundtable with the understanding that they would call off the strike."
The minister of labour said: "I have pleaded with them, the Senate president has pleaded with them, the Speaker has pleaded with them; all well-meaning Nigerians have pleaded with them, including the Chairman of House and Senate Committees. On top of it, the president has granted us a concession of 40 per cent, another special concession of paying over backward.
"The vice president has also talked to them. There was agreement explained that the matter had been referred to the IAP, and the court would give its ruling and they must comply, adding, "the rule states that if they are not on strike, they must wait until the case is determined. If you are already on strike, you must go back to work but ASUU has refused to do this."
He alleged that ASUU was trying to create a big crisis in the education sector, describing this development as a shame. Prince Kayode stated that ASUU had been going on strike every year in the past 10 years, stressing that with their hardline and rigid posture, they were forcing the government to implement the no work no pay rule.
He pointed out that with the present situation and based on the federal system of governance, it would be against the law for the Federal Government to negotiate and sign all agreements and impose them on the state governments.
The minister stated that ASUU comprised both federal and state university teachers, and the Federal Government could not sign agreementthem on the state government on behalf of the state.
But ASUU said it had now rejected the 40 per cent offer by the Federal Government because the leader of the government team told them at the commencement of the re-negotiations that he had no new mandate apart from the 40 per cent already offered.

All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) has said the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are quite realizable, affordable and not utopian as being claimed by some persons in government.
The party, in a press statement, stated that to any progressive minded person, the Federal Government can afford to address the problems saying, however, that those presiding over the affairs of the country would prefer to discard with their epicurean disposition than resolve the crisis.
The ANPP statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Emma Eneukwu noted with pains that what made the current ASUU/Federal Government squabble more paradoxical is the fact that the trio of President Yar'Adua, his Vice, Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, were members of ASUU, stressing that Dr. Egwu in particular was at a time a chapter president of ASUU at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).
The ANPP noted that in spite of this understanding that ought to bespite of this understanding that ought to be an advantage to ASUU members, the nonchalant attitude of the three top government officials towards the decay in the educational sector and the struggle of the former comrades to remedy same, is a testimony to Nigerians that nothing good can come from the PDP.