The federal government’s directive to remove universities and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) payment platform generated huge congratulatory messages to ASUU members. If only the congratulatory messages could be monetised, the poor lecturers would be so rich. The government admitted that it was an error to have included tertiary institutions on IPPIS and the exemption is for the progress of the University. Sadly, no one is talking about the pain that the same federal government has subjected the Union members to in their patriotic protest to correct the wrong. This is not the first victory recorded after painful treatment.
Federal and state governments are happy to establish new
universities for TETFund to fund their infrastructure. The government of
Buhari, that saw ASUU as an enemy to crush, named the new TETFund universities
he established as the only visible achievements in the education sector. How
was TETFund established?
The 1992 ASUU strike that led to the proscription of the
Union and the traumatisation of the members during the military regime led to
the establishment of the Education Trust Fund (ETF). That 1992 strike was the
first time that the weapon of hunger was deployed by the government through the
stoppage of salaries in order to break the members.
The failure of such a brutal approach forced the government
to negotiate with ASUU after 3 months. This led to the 1992 ASUU-FG Agreement
that gave rise to a new package of the condition of service, university
autonomy, and arrangement on funding through the education tax fund on 3rd
September 1992. ASUU developed the framework of ETF. In January 1993, the
Education Tax Act No7 of 1993 was promulgated alongside other education-related
Decrees.
The funding issue continued as Obasanjo's government came to
overstretch ETF and tertiary institutions were not getting the required
intervention. ASUU, as usual, continued to draw the attention of the government
to that. It was only during the 2009 ASUU strike that the mandate of ETF was
refocused. In 2011, the Education Tax Act was repealed and replaced by the
Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act.
The irony is that after realising that ETF was a brilliant
idea, FG never apologised to ASUU for the ill-treatment of the Union. And for
the struggle for TETFund to be what it is today, nobody bothers about the
history to give credit to the initiator of the idea.
Then, the IPPIS was brought. When Jonathan's FG wanted to
implement the use of IPPIS in Federal universities in 2013. ASUU saw the danger
in the University system and informed the government that the policy was not
suitable for the universities and presented all the reasons. The government was
convinced it wouldn't work with university peculiarities, aside from the fact
the circular is contrary to the law that established the universities and the
University Autonomy Act.
In a letter dated 19th March 2014 and addressed to the ASUU
president, the Union was requested to
nominate a representative for a committee to consider the development,
implementation, and workability of a solution in the University system. The
alternative solution was to accommodate the peculiarities of the university
system and also achieve the objectives of IPPIS. The election year started
immediately after that and Jonathan lost the election.
Buhari's FG came and abandoned Jonathan's FG plan in 2014 to
develop an alternative platform for the University system. No continuity. As
bad as the poverty of sincerity, no one can deny the existence of the
University Autonomy Act and its content.
The Universities Autonomy Act No. 1, 2007 stated that:
"The Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2003
(otherwise called the Universities Autonomy Act No. 1, 2007) enacted by the
National Assembly and signed into law on 10th July 2003 and later gazetted by
the Federal Republic of Nigerian Official Gazette No. 10, Volume 94 of 12th
January 2007 as Act No. 1 of 2000, has vested the powers of MANAGING THE
PERSONNEL AND PAYROLL SYSTEM issues in the hands of each university’s governing
council."
Section 2AA of the Act states that: “The powers of the
Council shall be exercised, as in the Law and Statutes of each university and
to this, extant establishment circulars that are inconsistent with the laws and
statutes of the university shall not apply to the universities.” Section 2AAA
states: “The Governing Council of a university shall be free in the discharge
of its functions and exercise of its responsibilities for the good management,
growth, and development of the University.”
Fortunately for Buhari and unfortunately for the country and
its University system, he had people around him who hated lecturers, thought
they had scores to settle with lecturers, and had been looking for an
opportunity to deal with them. All attempts to make them understand the
position of the law on the forceful enrolment on IPPIS were ignored. They had
no respect for the law. They were the law themselves and it was all about how
they wanted it. The university Autonomy Act is in plain language but they refused
to read it.
He had an Accountant General (aka "Account Clerk")
of the Federation who wanted to show the lecturers the power of the man with
the button. He also had a powerful minister, a mother, who was quoted to have
allegedly said she would make sure ASUU members beg for food to eat. And he had
a Labour Minister who took the ASUU-FG issue as a personal fight between him
and ASUU president.
Indeed, leadership is not for everybody.
Tinubu's government like Jonathan's government seems willing
to listen to the voice of reason. They have agreed that IPPIS in the University
is against the law of the Autonomy of the universities and has actually
affected the efficient management of the university system and other tertiary
institutions. Kudos to Tinubu's Federal Executive Council which has the same
Buhari's Festus Keyamo as a member. That is life.
The 4 years of the universities on IPPIS have caused some
retrogression to the operation of the university system. Can the 4 years damage
be remedied by this FEC decision? It will surely take some years for the
universities to recover from the damage. What about the University lecturers
who were punished through starvation for being too patriotic and daring to
protest the strangulation of the public universities by an insensitive
government? The reversal was an admission that "we are wrong and you are
right". Will the lecturers get an apology and compensation for being
punished for a patriotic fight for the system? When will the withheld salaries
be paid unconditionally with an apology?
The public universities are our universities and not ASUU
universities. The Academics can't keep draining their blood to keep them alive.
It is become obvious that ASUU members are getting to a breaking point. It is
our collective responsibility to reposition them and give them the desired
global identity.
What the government has failed to realise is that public
universities can also serve as a source of forex for the country as the
universities in Malaysia are doing now. The political class just needs to wear
the cap of sincerity and give the universities the needed support to make them
among the world's best universities.
Dear President Tinubu, you have done well to have listened
to the voice of reason and reversed the forceful enrollment of the public
University workers on IPPIS. You should also have a look at the recommendations
of the Nimi Briggs' Renegotiation Committee of 2022 and other pending issues in
the interest of our university system and Nigeria.
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