ASUU Accuses IMF and World Bank of Undermining Nigeria’s Universities
The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Tuesday raised an alarm over a scheme to destroy the interest of public universities in the country.
At a celebration of the 2024 ASUU Heroes Day in Abuja, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU, also charged that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were actively trying to undermine Nigeria’s public education system.
The union bemoaned the length of time it had taken to rewrite its 2009 agreement with the Federal Government, pointing out that the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement had not yet been renegotiated and concluded despite multiple Memoranda of Understanding and Memoranda of Action.
Even after the Federal Executive Council announced plans to withdraw the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System from tertiary education institutions, he lamented that the system’s enforcement in public universities had further complicated matters.
Along with the unpaid arrears of wages, promotions, and the Earned Academic Allowance, Osodeke also voiced worry that the Federal Government was still unfairly depriving the union of three and a half months’ salary.
Osodeke went on to praise the union’s members across the country for their “courageous comradeship and sacrifices to the cause of our union, which forever resonate with the emancipation of Nigerian public university education and the suffering Nigerian people” at the event, which honoured what it called its “past and living heroes.”
He declared that some of its members at the nation’s public colleges would be eligible to receive PhD funding from the union.
The funds, which are worth N500,000 each, would be given out after proposals were carefully evaluated by subject-matter experts.
“Like in previous years, comrades, we are celebrating our heroes this year as we continue to fight to free Nigeria’s public universities from the strangling grip of the World Bank and the IMF, whose determination to bury and destroy our public university system has not slackened.
“It is rather lamentable that we are still struggling to compel the renegotiation of our 2009 Agreement with the federal government, twelve years after it should have been concluded, and after four rounds of failed negotiations.
“It is most disheartening and egregious that despite the several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and Memoranda of Action (MoAs), the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement is yet to be renegotiated and finalised,” he said.
Osodeke alleged that at the state level, ASUU members “are still being punished for fighting for the interests of members and the university system.”
He added, “Let me re-emphasise that we stand with our members at Kogi State University, Lagos State University, Ebonyi State University, and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University in their persecution for their principled support and solidarity in the struggle to defend the soul of public university education in Nigeria.
“As part of our Heroes Day celebration, this year, and in line with the NDC decision, the union will be offering PhD grants to some of our members across various public universities in the country.
“The grants, valued at five hundred thousand naira per recipient, will be based on the rigorous assessment of their proposals by experts in their respective disciplines.”
Prof. T. Uzodinma Nwala, Prof. Bright Ekuerhare, Prof. Oye Oyediran, Mallam Bashir Kurfi, Prof. The Name Ikiddeh, Mr. S.A. Fadipe, and Prof. Sola Olukunle were among those awarded at the ceremony.
Akin Oyebode, Mustapha A. Danesi, A.T. Wins, Tunde Oduleye, Prof. Rasheed Abubakar, Nasir Hussain, and Dr. Peter Ozo-son were among the others.
