The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the Federal Government to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2009.
ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the call while briefing newsmen at the world news conference in on Monday in Abuja.
Ogunyemi said that implementing the agreement would help to arrest the decaying infrastructure and human development in the education system.
He urged the Federal Government to revisit the contentious issues of condition of service of its staff, funding, granting of university autonomy and academic freedom, to avoid unnecessary strikes.
He added that due to the non-implementation of the issues, a committee was constituted to assess the needs of the universities.
He noted the committee had recommended that a total of N7.5 trillion would be needed to revitalise the universities.
“The six months nationwide strike by ASUU in 2013 was precipitated by government’s poor implementation of the 2009 agreement and reluctance to implement the report of the NEEDS Assessment Committee.
“The 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement Implementation Committee has submitted a report of the outstanding balance of N65 billion from 2009 to 2013.
“This was in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Federal Government and ASUU while resolving the crisis of June to November 2013.
According to him, government has not paid a kobo beyond the N30 billion paid to university staff in 2013, adding that it is a clear breach of the MoU.
He said that Nigerian universities were in a serious funding crisis.
Ogunyemi urged the Federal Government to urgently address the shortfall in salaries and the non-payment of salaries of staff in the universities primary schools since December 2015.
He also urged the government to resolve the issue of the Pension Reform Act of 2004 which did not address the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.
In addition, the ASUU president advised the government to complete the process of amendment of the 2004 Acts of JAMB, NUC and national minimum standards and establishment of the institutions.
