No Retreat No Surrender: FG is deceiving Nigerians — ASUU leader

No Retreat No Surrender: FG is deceiving
Nigerians — ASUU leader
on october 27, 2013 at 6:40 pm in periscope
*‘We wrote 53 letters to govt in 16months’
*Says N100b mere propaganda, funds not released
Clement Chup is the zonal coordinator of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in
Abuja. Chup, in this interview, hints that there is no
end in sight to the four months old strike by the
university teachers which has kept students at
home.
By Laide Akinboade
The Minister of Education recently said ASUU strike
would be over in a few months. What is the
position of ASUU?
I may not be in a position to give you the official
position of ASUU, it is the National President that
would give you the official position, but I want to tell
you that there is a lot of insincerity on the part of
government and, because government has the
machinery of propaganda at their disposal, they
disseminate a lot of falsehood to the general public.
We are not talking about what government wants to
do; what we are talking about is the implementation
of an agreement which was signed by government
and our union. So what government should be
explaining is the modality for the implementation; so
far, government has not come out to say 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. Government must be honorable and
responsible and implement the agreement. To
buttress their insincerity, government would claim,
and they have been telling the general public, that
they released N100 billion two months ago. Up till
now that we are talking, one kobo has not been
released to any university, that 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 , what was spelt out in the
agreement, which we are insisting they should
implement? They cannot even give you an answer.
In as much as we painfully went into this strike and,
in as much as we are painfully pursuing this strike,
in as much as we want this strike to end, we cannot
just end it without achieving the purpose for which
we went on the strike. So, as long as government
does not show any sincerity to implement the
agreement, the strike continues.
Can you react to government’s allegation that ASUU
is politicizing the strike?
Well, a thief always thinks that every other person
is a thief; because they believe politics is all about
falsehood, they think others are reasoning like
them. But the question they should be asking is,
does ASUU have basis for going on this strike? Let
anyone of them come out and say no. Does the
agreement exist and did the Federal Government
sign the agreement? The answer is yes.
Why are they refusing to implement it? Like I said
earlier, they have the machinery for propaganda at
their disposal they can disseminate whatever false
information they want and they think everybody is
like them. We are a union of intellectuals we don’t
just come out to say anything or do anything, we
subject it to scrutiny. We cannot become like them;
it was said even by government at the highest
quarters, but you would recall they have not told us
how, what manner of politics has come in and let
Nigerians know. They said ASUU has been
politicized. How? and it has been influenced by the
opposition. The question we should ask is by which
opposition. We look at them as politicians and all
this claim is a tool by the Federal Government to
blackmail us cheaply and we know they cannot
succeed.
How many meetings have you had so far with the
Federal Government and are the meetings on-
going?
I prefer when you talk about meetings and
discussions because there have been no
negotiations going on but there are discussions,
because you already have something to work with
because when you have an agreement, it is a
product of negotiation and it took us three years and
I want to emphasise, three years, to arrive at that
document called the 2009 agreement and, for you to
arrive at an agreement, you must have made
concessions. We have the document, it is for
government to honour it.
We would not refuse any invitation by anybody. The
Federal Government has been calling us for
discussions and we have been going. So, as long as
they call us we will go, probably they want to tell us
how they are going to implement the agreement.
It was reported that the Federal Government has
increased the N30 billion it released for earned
allowance to N40 billion. Is this true?
The Federal Government didn’t consult us before
they released the N30 billion. You see the
insincerity? We were discussing how to implement
the 2009 agreement and they simply went and
released money to the universities, without any
template, to cause further problems in the
universities. So, if they have decided to add, and it
was not part of the agreement, if they want to give
universities award, they should go ahead.
If somebody wants to give you award, you won’t
reject it, but we know that we have an agreement
and you should implement the agreement and when
you want to implement the agreement, you are
supposed to carry us along.
Government is using this to blackmail us cheaply,
and the next thing they would say is they have
‘released money, why won’t you call off the strike?’
We are not part of it and we have refused to
participate in it and, in all the universities, you can
ask, our members are not participating in the
sharing of that money because it was not part of the
agreement.
Public sympathy on the strike, what is ASUU doing
about this?
We are taking that into consideration. You know one
thing about public sympathy, it can easily change
depending on circumstances, but what we are
looking at is the fact of the matter and the truth on
ground. Now if you look at it, people that are heroes
historically were called rebels, even in the Bible,
Jesus Christ was called a rebel, the people he was
dying for were the ones shouting ‘crucify him’.
ASUU stands for the truth to advance the cause of
education in Nigeria. And also the cause of this
country because by the time government becomes
responsible, it will benefit not only education but
also everybody. It is will be a stepping stone, then
people will realize that government carries some
responsibilities. For now, we are appealing to the
public but we know we are fighting a just cause and
we will continue. There are people who feel ASUU
should call off the strike and then come back for
negotiation?
There are no negotiations going on; so which
negotiation are we going to allow or are we saying
we should allow implementation?
Where was government when we were giving
warnings? This is part of the insincerity by
government we are talking about.
How many times did ASUU warn the Federal
Government?
We wrote 53 letters since February 2012 and each
of the letters was made public. There is none of our
National Executive meetings we would not publish
advertorial in newspapers and warnings constantly.
We even visited some eminent Nigerians and urged
them to talk to the Federal Government to honour
the 2009 agreement.
We told them then we would eventually go on strike
and it would not be good for anybody but they kept
quiet; it is now they realize that there should be
truce, truce for what?
All we want from the Federal Government is to tell
ASUU how they are going to implement the 2009
agreement, that is all. Government cannot run away
from the agreement; we must work based on the
agreement.
But the Federal Government said it cannot
implement some of the things in the agreement? It
said the idea of releasing N400 billion per annum is
not realistic?
Who signed it? Ask them. Looking at the kind of
government we have in this country, only last week,
the government said it was getting ready to bail out
the aviation sector for the second time. They feel
this sector is important because they fly;
But they have forgotten about most Nigerians that
travel by road. Is it not Government money they are
going to use? Where did they get the trillions they
are going to use?
Nigeria is supposed to commence the operation of
national carrier before the end of this year – that is
more of a priority to them. Education is not. You see
the outrageous expenditure for those in
government. Does that give the impression that the
nation doesn’t have money? A few days ago, the
Central Bank came out to tell us that in nine months,
the nation made over N6 trillion and our budget is
just over N4 trillion. They shouldn’t come out with
the falsehood that the nation cannot afford to
implement some parts of the 2009 agreement.
Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation mid-wifed the memorandum of
understanding that they are saying they cannot
release, that is the insincerity we are talking about.
Is there end in sight to the four months old ASUU
strike?
We don’t know, it is not for us to end it. When
government is ready, we are ready.
What specifically does ASUU want the Federal
Government to do?
We don’t want a fresh negotiation. When we wanted
to go on strike, there was referendum in all our
branches and they said until there is substantial
evidence of implementation the 2009 agreement, we
shall not suspend the strike. All we are saying is
that the agreement should be implemented. There is
nothing new about it, it is what we have been
saying since the strike started and even before we
went on strike. So let the Federal Government go on
and implement the 2009 agreement. We cannot
abrogate our agreement – on it we stand.
We are doing our best to give updates but you will
agree with me that we are handicapped and we
don’t have the quantum of resources that Federal
Government has for propaganda. You will agree with
me that is a challenge on its own. That is not to say
that we are not doing our best trying to explain to
Nigerians our situation.