THE DEARTH OF TRUST

 Kunle Adams argues that Femi Gbajabiamila should be commended in his intervention on the ASUU crisis

The last industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was reported to be the longest strike in the history of the university union. For more than eight months, students were out of classrooms, businesses within the campus ecosystem suffered unimaginable hardship. 

The nation was on the edge as parents and other stakeholders, and thus Nigerians in general expressed worries over the fate of millions of young people whose future faced uncertainties. In the midst of the crisis, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila rose to the occasion in his characteristic manner and elected to intervene in the public interest.

He has an impeccable track record in conflict resolutions. On several occasions, he had waded in on crises between the government and aggrieved unions and successfully brokered sustainable truce. He was not seeking cheap popularity or playing to the gallery. He was truly concerned about the plight of the Nigerian youths and their parents, and also the aggrieved lecturers. 

He was able to get the teachers back to the classrooms, with commitment from the federal government to meet some of the lecturers’ demands. When the government pro-rated the salaries of the lecturers after they returned to classrooms, the Speaker didn’t abandon them, he intervened and met with stakeholders on the matter. 

So, the recent attacks from ASUU, through their lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN and the ASUU Chairman, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, were unwarranted. Falana reportedly said: “From the information at my disposal, the intervention of the House leadership in resolving the crisis was sabotaged by a member of the Federal Executive Council.

 “Having been embarrassed in the circumstance, the Speaker should have apologised to the ASUU and the Nigerian people instead of denying the agreement reached with ASUU and President Buhari on the decision of the federal government to pay for the period covered by the strike. 

“The agreement was based on the commitment of the lecturers to ensure that the 2021/2022 academic session was not cancelled.”

Prof Osodeke, also in a media interview accused the speaker of deceiving the university lecturers into calling off their eight-month strike.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, dismissed the allegations as baseless, stressing that at no time did Gbajabiamila agree with ASUU that lecturers would be paid for the period they downed tools. Kalu unequivocally stated that the federal government legitimately withheld the salaries for the period universities were shut down. The statement read, “On Tuesday, 27th December 2022, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, granted an interview, accusing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, of using deception to convince the union to call off its strike. He specifically alleged that the Speaker failed to deliver on his written commitment that the government would, without delay, offset the arrears of salaries owed to members of the union for the time they were on strike.

“For the record, at no point did the Speaker of the House of Representatives commit to offset the arrears of salaries owed to union members for the time they were on strike. The House of Representatives helped resolve the strike by making commitments to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities. These commitments are reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which includes N170bn to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300bn in revitalisation funds.

“Furthermore, the House of Representatives continues to work with stakeholders – the Accountant General of the Federation and the Academic Staff Union of Universities to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

“Professor Emmanuel Osodeke knows that the federal government of Nigeria is under no obligation to pay university lecturers’ salaries for the duration they were on strike. This is a settled matter in law. See S. 43(1)(a) Trade Disputes Act, Cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN). The Executive decision not to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is warranted by the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions. Nonetheless, the Speaker has made interventions for an exemption in this regard, and Professor Osodeke is well aware of this.

“Our objectives in this regard will not be achieved when stakeholders choose to ignore substantive issues and the consideration of bold ideas in favour of cheap blackmail and immoral propaganda,” he stated. The statement added, “Professor Osodeke’s bad-faith approach to negotiations and his affinity for political brinkmanship are significant reasons the universities were on strike for so long. His ongoing interventions continue to threaten the progress being made to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities.”

 Adams writes from Abeokuta, Ogun State