The University of Jos chapter of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), who voted against ending the four-months-old
strike, says it will resume classes if directed by the national body.
“Yes, the local ASUU chapter voted 159 to 88 against ending the
strike at its congress on Monday, but we shall abide by any decision
taken by the national body on Wednesday,’’ its Chairman, Dr. David
Jangdam, said in Jos on Tuesday.
ASUU’s central body is expected to meet in Kano on Wednesday to take a
final decision on whether or not to end the strike after collating
resolutions from various local branches who considered the offer by
President Goodluck Jonathan during their congresses on Monday.
Jonathan had made the offers toward ending the strike during a
meeting with the striking lecturers who are seeking better funding for
the universities and improved welfare packages for the teaching staff.
Jangdam told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that the
decision of the national body was final and binding on all local
chapters.
“Even the strike was not supported by all the universities. Many
local chapters of ASUU opposed it, but majority wanted it and we
embarked on it,’’ he said.
He explained that ASUU’s decisions were usually from bottom-to-top
with representatives at meetings having to revert to the local branches
before any decision would be taken.
Jangdam, however, rejected suggestions that the local branch’s
position was influenced by the internal disagreement with management
over the conduct of the post-UTME examinations during the strike.
ASUU had condemned that action, and declared that the examinations were “illegal, wasteful and of no effect’’.
“At the congress meeting yesterday, we made it clear that no local issue will be discussed.
“Our focus was solely on the issues related to the national strike.
Other local disagreements shall be tackled locally and therefore had no
effect on our stance yesterday,’’ he said.
He said that the lecturers voted against ending the strike because
they did not trust the federal government to fulfill its promises and
therefore wanted something concrete to be seen on ground before resuming
classes.
Jangdam also rejected suggestions that the lecturers had not been fair to university education in the country.
“I think the questions should be if the system is fair to the
educational sector; Nigerians should ask the leaders why the educational
sector is usually the least in their priorities,’’ he said.
He said that it was wrong for Nigerians to blame the lecturers for
the bad situation in the universities, saying that the search light
should rather be on those in authority that decided what should go to
the ivory towers at budget planning sessions.
“Sometimes, I find the situation a bit perplexing; I wonder why
should Nigerians complain about poor quality of graduates and heap the
blame on the universities and the lecturers even when they know that not
much attention is paid to the educational sector?,’’ he asked. (NAN)
0 comments:
Post a Comment