ASUU, FG meet dead end as union insists on revitalisation fund

ASUU, FG meet dead end as union insists on revitalisation fund The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is yet to get the federal government to meet its demands - This has made ASUU to say that unless the federal government pay the embattled revitalisation fund, the ongoing industrial strike will continue - The head of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, on Wednesday, January 23, said that the fund is key to the survival of the university system There seems to be no hope for the end of the prolonged nationwide strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as it is still insisting that the federal government should pay the revitalisation fund. Speaking on Wednesday, January 23, Biodun Ogunyemi, the president of ASUU, stated that N50 billion is the least amount for the first quarter of 2019 the union is asking for from the federal government as revitalisation fund, Nigerian Tribune reports. Ogunyemi revealed to newsmen that as at Wednesday not only has the federal government failed to pay the money, it is showing no indication of releasing it. Ogunyemi, on the federal government’s claim that it had released a sum of N15.4 billion as part of shortfall in the payment of salaries of lecturers, said: “We are yet to confirm that as of Wednesday. “The implication of this is that for some years now, public university lecturers have not been receiving full salaries, let alone earned allowances.” The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, had on Monday, January 21, claimed that the ministry of finance and the office of the accountant-general of the federation had remitted N15.4 billion before the end of part of the 2018 budget for that purpose. However, the ASUU boss insisted that members of the union have not yet verified the truth of the claim, adding that the fund is key to the survival of the university system. He said: “It is central to our work. That is what we agreed on to fix our laboratories, to stock our libraries, to repair damaged equipment, to make our studio and workshops functioning and all that. “These are specific issues outlined in the NEEDS Assessment Report; that the revitalisation fund will need to address. And this is to the benefit of students and our public universities as well as economy at large. “So, even if government addresses other issues, including earned allowances and granting of permanent NUPEMCO licence, without the revitalization, ASUU won’t shift ground.”