The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reiterated once more that it is resisting attempts by the Nigerian Federal Government to hike tuition fees in Nigerian Public Universities to a minimum of N350,000.
This information was once more disseminated to the public by the Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Ibadan Zone, Dr Ade Adejumo, on Tuesday while addressing members of the Correspondents Chapel, Ibadan.
Dr. Adejumo alleged that the Nigerian Federal Government was already taking concrete steps to force students of federal universities pay a minimum of N350,000 as tuition fees.
Related: ASUU Rejects Federal Government Proposal to Hike Public University Tuition
Adejumo said further that it was vital for ASUU to let the public know that there could be labour crisis in the federal universities in the country pretty soon because of the proposed hike. He added that the introduction of the proposal by the federal government had led to a stagnation of the 2017/2018 renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.
His words;
“The union is again constrained to draw the attention of Nigerian public to an impending labour crisis in the Nigerian universities as a result of the insensitivity of the Nigerian government to issues critical to the survival of the educational system in Nigeria.
It is no longer news that the renegotiation, which the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, promised was going to last for only six weeks, has broken down. The reason for this very unfortunate development will appall most Nigerians.
First, the leader of the government team, who was supposed to be an arbiter between the parties, assumed an arrogant attitude that sought to foist a predetermined mindset of government on the union.
The union was confronted with a situation where the government is bent on imposing tuition fees, beginning from N350,000, on students in the Nigerian public-owned tertiary institutions. On the question as to how the students will raise such money, the answer that government has is that it will establish an Education Bank, where students will access credit facilities and payback on completion of their studies.”