Senate President David Mark has said that the 2009 agreement the Federal Government reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities would be virtually impossible to implement and pleaded with ASUU to resume work before they began to lose public sympathy.
He spoke in response to a motion sponsored by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (Cross River Central) and 106 others is titled “Appeal to Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off the strike and return to work”.
He said, “Listening to the agreement that was signed by the Federal Government as Comrade Uche Chukwumerije read out, I was really wondering whether this was signed or it was just a proposal.
“But when he concluded, he said it was signed. It only shows the level of people the executive sent to go and negotiate on their behalf because ab initio, people must be told the truth, what can be accomplished and what cannot be accomplished.
“If a leader says I am going to accomplish this, he is morally duty bound to honour it. But even if you decided immediately after that you cannot accomplish it, I think it is only proper for you to go back and start renegotiating.
“But if you prolong it on the basis that you are still going to honour it and you don’t honour it, then it doesn’t portray us in good light.
“This is where the Federal Government ought to call those who were party to this agreement.
“On the other hand, I think ASUU simply took advantage of the ignorance of those who were sent and simply just allowed this agreement to go on because it is obvious that this is going to be very difficult piece of paper to implement.
“They found that those who were sent there simply didn’t know their right from their left and they just went ahead.
“I think that also is not fair because ASUU is an organisation in Nigeria and we are not going to go to another country to implement this piece of paper.”
The agreement entitles ASUU to N1.5 trillion over a period of 3 years in installments of N500 billion a year.
Besides the N1.5 trillion, the agreement also stipulated that “each state university shall require N3.6 million” while “a minimum of 26 per cent of the annual budget should be allocated to education”.
Those that were part of the FG’s negotiating team in 2009 include Deacon Gamaliel Onosode (Chairman), Prof. Musa Abdullahi, a former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Jos who died in 2008; Prof. Creg Iwu, ex-Pro-Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; Rev. Father T.E. Uwaifo, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma; Emeka Nwankpa, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Abia State University, Uturu; Ambassador Muhammed Adamu Jumba, ex-Pro-Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano; Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Executive Secretary, Education Trust Fund; and Senator Abdullah Wali, who was a member until February 2008.
Mark who summed up senators’ contributions, said: “The essence of this motion is to find a solution and a way forward. I have listened to all those that have spoken so far.
“There are immediate problems that we need to tackle yesterday and some that we need to plead with all the parties involved to give time so that they can sort it out.
“My personal appeal on behalf of the Senate to all the parties involved will be that they try to understand.
“Let us shift ground in our understanding of the problem and find a solution because if all the parties involved just dig in and they say they won’t shift ground, then there will be no solution to it and Nigeria will be worse off for it.
“Whether it is the executive, the legislature or the judiciary or ASUU, not shifting ground is not going to help to find a lasting solution to the problem.
“I want to appeal to ASUU and in fact let me even use the words, I want to beg ASUU on behalf of the Senate that they resume and come back to work.
“They have made a strong case. Their position is obvious now. We can now see the consequences of their action and I think if they extend it beyond this then they will begin to lose public sympathy.
“I will personally beg them if that is the way that they think will help them to get back to work.
“There is no winner, there is no loser in this exercise. As long as the strike continues, nobody will win and everybody will lose.
“So if we look at it from the perspective of saying yes, ASUU will win and the executive will win then we are missing the point completely.
“It is not a question of a winner or a loser, all of us will lose. ASUU will lose, the country will lose and we will lose and we don’t want to find ourselves in that type of situation.
“All of you have spoken very well. It is not a matter of PDP, APC or any other political party. We are all Nigerians and if we don’t build a solid foundation in our education system, we are going to lose at the end of the day.
Mark spoke of research as the pillar of national development, which, in his view, “must be hinged purely on education not on oil, not even on the amount of money that we get.
“Listening to the agreement that was signed by the Federal Government as Comrade Uche Chukwumerije read out, I was really wondering whether this was signed or it was just a proposal.
“But when he concluded, he said it was signed. It only shows the level of people the Executive sent to go and negotiate on their behalf because ab initio, people must be told the truth, what can be accomplished and what cannot be accomplished.
“If a leader says I am going to accomplish this, he is morally bound to honour it. But, even if you decided immediately after that you cannot accomplish it, I think it is only proper for you to go back and start renegotiating.
“But if you prolong it on the basis that you are still going to honour it and you don’t honour it, then it doesn’t portray us in good light.
“This is where the Federal Government ought to call those who were party to this agreement,” the Senate President said.
To him, “ASUU simply took advantage of the ignorance of those who were sent and simply just allowed this agreement to go on because it is obvious that this is going to be very difficult piece of paper to implement”.
Mark added: “They found that those who were sent there simply didn’t know their right from their left and they just went ahead.
“I think that also is not fair because ASUU is an organisation in Nigeria and we are not going to go to another country to implement this piece of paper.
“It was obvious to me as soon as Chukwumerije concluded that this was a difficult thing for them to implement.
“I think in all seriousness we will make this passionate appeal to all the parties involved.”