Asuu Strike to end soon!!!

Secretary to the Federal Government,
Anyim Pius Anyim, has stated that
contrary to the claims by the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the
Federal Government has demonstrated
commitment to the implementation of
the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.
In a statement signed by his Special
Assistant on Media, Sam Nwaobasi, he
said the Federal Government was fully
committed to ending the ongoing strike
and bringing students back to school. He
however, stated that many of the issues
in the 2009 agreement, which ASUU had
with the Federal Government and which
it claimed were still unresolved, had been
resolved.
Among the contentious issues, according
to the statement, were the rent approved
by the governent and the consolidated
salary structure for non teaching staff.
These, he said had been fully
implemented as all teaching and non-
teaching staff had been on the
consolidated salary structure since 2009.
Another issue was the amendment of the
pensionable retirement age of academics
in the professional cadre, as professors
now retire at 65 instead of 60 years.
He stated: “Besides the issue of
retirement age and consolidated salary
structure, the government has always
assisted state universities through the
federal intervention agencies, and the
present special revitalization programme
covers both state and federal universities.
“On the issue of the transfer of landed
property to universities, the government
has made it clear that it cannot transfer
landed property to ASUU because it has
no structure to manage or maintain such
property. Government is however, willing
to support any university that sets up a
property company with management
structure to compete with others in the
industry.
“There was also the consensus that
revitalizing the tertiary institutions is of
critical importance to the nation. ASUU,
therefore agreed with the government to
jointly undertake a NEEDS assessment of
the universities with a view to harnessing
all the funding that hitherto goes into the
system in a haphazard manner. The
NEEDS Committee that was set up has
completed its work and the report has
been approved by the Federal Executive
Council and the President has approved
N100 billion for the committee’s
disbursement.