BARRING any last minute-change of mind, the entire operations of the University of Ibadan (UI) may be grounded from Tuesday over dispute on the recent N40 billion released out of the N100 billion promised by the Federal Government to federal universities.
The two major unions at the nation’s premier university are at the loggerheads over the N2.1billion that came to UI as its share from the earned allowance, which was paid to end the four-month old strike by university lecturers across the country.
Members of the Non-Academic Union of Nigerian University (NASU) branch of the university are piling pressure on the university authorities to immediately share the money to all academic and non-academic staff of the institution.
It was gathered that NASU has threatened to paralyse activities in the university, including shutting all offices, should the authorities refuse to disburse the N2.1 billion today.
NASU’s decision followed reports that in the University of Ilorin, whose academic staff are not part of the ongoing strike by university lecturers, the allowance was shared across board.
However, the members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) of the university were said to be against the disbursement of the N2.1 billion that accrued to the institution pending the resolution of the current strike by its members.
ASUU chairman for the university, Dr Segun Ajiboye, while reacting to the development, said ASUU had always explained that all staff in the school, whether academic or otherwise, would benefit from the money.
He appealed to NASU members to exercise more patience and await the disbursement of more money by the Federal Government before the whole lump sum would be shared.
According to sources, the sharing formula had almost been reportedly concluded by the appropriate accounting department of the university when ASUU leadership got wind of it and kicked against the plan to avert another round of crisis.
It was learnt that in anticipation of the windfall, some NASU members had even begun to plan how they hoped to spend their share once it was disbursed before ASUU members came up with its position on the matter.
But following the decision of ASUU to throw spanner into the works, NASU members were said to have met and resolved to take a number of radical steps, one of which is to begin a strike on Monday.
Another plan by NASU, it was learnt, is to hold the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Issac Adewole, hostage, even though he was said to have travelled to Abuja for a meeting of vice-chancellors with the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike.
Meanwhile, the striking universities lecturers have accused the Federal Government of using propaganda to blackmail them, vowing not to surrender cheaply in the struggle.
Chairman, University of Abuja Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Mr Clement Chup, spoke with newsmen in Abuja, during the weekend, after the zonal meeting of the union.
He stressed that government must be honourable and responsible and implement the 2009 Agreement instead of feeding the public with falsehood.
“There is a lot of insincerity on the part of the government and because government has the machinery of propaganda at its disposal, it disseminates a lot of falsehood to the general public,” Chup said.
This is even as another ASUU source told the Nigerian Tribune, in Abuja, that there was no plan to call off the about four-month old strike yet.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, faulted reports credited to government officials that the strike would soon be called off, saying “these are diversionary tactics that won’t work.”
The UNIABUJA chairman of ASUU, maintained that what ASUU is demanding for was the implementation of the 2009 agreement, adding that what is expected of the government was to draw out modalities for genuine implementation of the agreement.
He said: “So far government has not come out to say, in the implementation of the agreement, this is what we will do. Rather, what government is trying to do is to run away from the agreement and we cannot accept that because the agreement is binding.”
He claimed that government had not been sincere in handling the contending issues, saying “government has been telling the general public that it released N100 billion two months ago. Up till now that we are talking, one kobo has not been released to any university.
“This is to tell you how insincere government is. So, when they say we would, as from next year, make budgetary provision for so, so and so amount; the question we should be asking ourselves is that what was spelt out in the agreement, which we are insisting that they should implement?
“They cannot even give you an answer to that. Inasmuch as we painfully went into this strike and painfully pursuing this strike; even though we want this strike to end, we cannot just end it without achieving the purpose for which we went to this strike,” he said.
He added that as long as the Federal Government does not show any sincerity to implement the agreement, the universities would remain shut.
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