The House of Representatives has hit back at the President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, for accusing the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, of deceiving the university lecturers into calling off their eight-month strike.

Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, in a statement issued on Wednesday, also stated that at no time did Gbajabiamila agreed with ASUU that lecturers would be paid for the period they downed tools.

In the statement titled ‘House of Representatives Response to Osodeke’s Allegations of Deception against Mr. Speaker,’ Kalu pointed out that the Federal Government legitimately withheld the salaries for the period universities were shut down.

ASUU had begun an indefinite strike on February 14, 2022. Gbajabiamila had led the intervention in the lingering crisis between the government and the lecturers, leading to the calling off of the strike in October.

The House is, however, faulting some of the claims made by the ASUU president in his recent media interview.

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 action. 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 N170,000,000,000.00) to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300,000,000,000.00 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.”

The House spokesman stated that the public interest in ensuring a well-functioning tertiary education sector is a matter of paramount concern for all who understand the transformational role of education in any society.

He stressed that it was for this reason that the 9th House had been consistent in its efforts to explore avenues for reform and improvement to the framework of public education in the country from primary education through tertiary.

“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 further read, “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.

“Therefore, I call on him, in his capacity as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to desist from making further misleading statements against the House of Representatives and the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila. There is no place for hostility and selfish agitation in this critical moment. This is the time for calm heads and steady hands, working together for the common good.”

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila of deceiving the union to call off its eight-month-old strike in October.

According to ASUU, Gbajabiamila had promised (written promise) that the Federal Government would offset in full the arrears of salaries members were owed.

The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke said this in an interview with Tribune on Tuesday.

Osodeke noted that the union had soft spot for Gbajabiamila which gave the chance to negotiate with the union.

The ASUU President revealed that the Speaker presented a paper signed by him to the leadership of the union indicating the seriousness of the government to pay in full the eight-month salaries its members were owed and also urgently attend to some other matters and specified how to address them.

Osodeke said part of the concerns were the peculiarities in the controversial Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the involvement of the house committee on budget allocation, among others.

He further stated that ASUU suspended it strike with the hope that Gbajabiamila’s words would be matched with action.

Osodeke noted that members of the union praised the Speaker for his intervention without knowing it was all a deceit.

He said the impression of the union members is that Gbajabiamila tricked them to go back to work and then sort out things immediately thereafter.

Osodeke said, “But here we are till today, nothing has been done over the promise and that is why the Speaker did not say anything tangible since then at least on the issues let alone ensure that his promises are carried out.”

He called on the Speaker to come out and prove that their impressions are wrong by working out the implementation of his promises to the union.

The ASUU President lamented that the court asked its members to resume to the classroom in spite of the treatment from the Federal Government and adjourned the case till January 26.

He said a sensitive case such as the one between ASUU and Federal Government and particularly with interlocutory injunction should have been addressed in whole and given a speedy hearing and concluded without necessarily being delayed as he said it is currently.

Osodeke who noted that damage has been done in the sector, prayed that the next government would declare a state of emergency in the sector and fix the mess.

The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), University of Calabar has created an online platform to checkmate cases of fraud associated with the payment of school charges.

The platform will also help to improve the working relationship between students and the employers of UNICAL seconded on Industrial Attachment (IT).

The director of SIWES, Dr. Imo Obot disclosed this when he spoke to journalists on the impact of the directorate and number of students so far mobilised on IT between 2000 and now.

According to Obot, they have so far mobilized 2,903 students for Industrial Attachment (IT) in 22 years.

He said the essence of IT is to get the students acquainted with the practical aspects of their discipline to enable them stand out in the labour market.

He maintained that the students are given proper orientation before they embark on IT to encourage them on the need to be focussed, hardworking and diligent.

The Director maintained that during the period of the IT, students are trained on practical skills related to their areas of specialization.

According to him, the students are placed under strict supervision by SIWES Staff, coordinators from their various Departments and officials of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for a duration of six months to ensure that they are actually undergoing the IT.

He said, ”The Students undergo intensive six months training related to their areas of specialization.

“For instance, Medical Laboratory Students go to the hospitals to receive training, tourism students go to the hospitality sector to receive training and so on.”

He described the scheme as a veritable tool for national and economic development.

Dr. Obot said SIWES would always key into the policy thrust of the current university administration, adding that the Vice Chancellor’s passion for ICT has given an unprecedented lift to SIWES