Strike: Lecturers, women protest in Anambra, Abuja

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Monday held rallies in Onitsha and Awka, Anambra State, urging the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement it signed with them in 2009.

The ASUU members from the Anambra State University conducted the rally at Onitsha, while that of Awka was conducted by their colleagues from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

At the Onitsha rally at the Zik’s Roundabout, the Chairperson of ASUU of ANSU, Dr. Sylvia Okonkwo, said they would not return to the classroom unless the FG implemented the agreement.

She said, among other demands, ASUU was demanding an injection of N400bn intervention fund annually into university education over the next three years.

According to her, ASUU wants the FG to aid state-owned universities, pay lecturers their earned allowances, gradually increase budgetary allocation to education, transfer landed property to universities and make companies operating in the country to set up research and development units.

Okonkwo condemned the arbitrary allocation of funds to selected universities, which, she said, was not acceptable to ASUU.

She added, “We deserve to be free. To achieve freedom, we must struggle to free our education. And with a revitalised university system, Nigeria shall be free.”

The Chairperson of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University branch of ASUU, Prof. Ike Odimegwu, addressed the Awka rally, which took place around the Freedom Square, Arroma Junction.

Meanwhile, business activities were paralysed at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja and its environs on Monday as over 200 market women protested against the prolonged industrial action.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, MacJohn Nwabiala, received the protesters at the secretariat.

The President of the National Association of Market Women, Mrs. Felicia Sani, coordinated the protest, which started about 11am.

She berated ASUU leaders for making what she described as “outrageous demands from the FG.”

Sani said it was unfair for state-owned universities to earn equal salaries with their federal counterparts, adding that such measures would cripple the economy.

According to her, ASUU’s latest strike has further exposed corruption in the university system, adding that the union’s agitation is politically motivated.

She said, “We have seen their secret, how can state universities be demanding equal salaries with federal universities, they want to close Nigeria down; if we protest they say America, America is over 360 years since it gained independence, we are just 53.”