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On Tuesday the members of the Academic Staff Union of University (Asuu), Federal University of Agriculture, Abekuta (Funaab), organized a peaceful protest, asking for the implementation of the renegotiated agreements and the payment of exceptional wages of teachers by the federal government.
They warned that their patience had already decreased, urging the administration led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to join their requests and stop imposing academic staff in the country.
Telling to journalists during the protest, the president of Asuu-Funaab, his partner Ola Oyedele, said that the union was forced to undertake the protest after the federal government could have tackled long-standing issues despite several rounds of negotiations.
Oyedele asked the Nigerians to consider the federal government responsible if the members of Asuu were to proceed on another industrial action in public universities.
The leader of the Union leaned from the proposed Fund (Tissf) of the tertiary institutions proposed by the Government, stating that the teachers must not be burdened by multiple loans but with improved wages.
He said: “Asuu was a progressive union, but today we are going out to say that the government must be responsible and fulfilling its side of the agreement. The last time we met the committee led by Yayale Ahmed on the basis of the collective principle of bargaining, according to which the federal government must make things work. However, the union was not respected and our requests were not provided proudly.
“Today we are going out to ask for the revitalization of universities, our EAA (academic allowances earned) and thirty and a half years of salaries that have been retained by the government should be paid. Enough is enough! We cannot wait anymore. It cannot answer us. Living in poverty.
“Enough! You stop imposing the teachers. The teachers are failing. We cannot even bring our cars to work. We are keeping lessons and doing research on empty stomachs, which is not acceptable. We will not take it from the federal government again. We are giving the federal government a warning.
Speaking also during the protest, the immediate past of Asuu national treasurer, companion Oluliji Sowande, observed that the members of the Union had not been on strike at national level in the last two years not because their requests had been satisfied by the government.
He complained that the government had constituted several negotiating panels without undertaking any concrete action on the agitations by Asuu.
Sowande said: “The truth is that we have always been patient, waiting for the government to need. From the appearance of things, it is as if the government was only keeping us to speak. The push to actually do the right thing is not really there.
“One of the most important aspects of our requests is the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement. You would remember that this renegotiation problem began in 2017. The government began by building a panel that was led by Dr. Wale Babalakin, which was not also made up of a series.
“After Babalakin’s Team, We Have Had Jubril’s Team. After Jubril, We Also Had Nimi Briggs Team. This is the Fourth Team negotiating with us on 2009 Agreement. The Current Team Has Also Ended Discussion since December 2024 Take necessary action.
“From the appearance of things, the patience of the members is actually exhausted. Most of the members now believe that the leadership is exhausted, that’s why they do not even act. But the truth of the matter is that we tried to suppress the anger of our members. We have not asked ourselves to be patient. But from the gaze, from our government, there are also no government. They are patient, hoping that the government will need.”
Many of the Protestant teachers transported signs that brought various inscriptions and turned to the university campus singing anti-government slogans.
