ASUU’s N92bn demand unrealistic - Okonjo-Iweala •Our demand beyond personal gains - ASUU

There may be no end in sight for the over one month indefinite industrial action embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), as the Federal Government has declared that it does not have the resources to meet with the financial demands of university teachers in Nigeria.
Strong indication to this effect emerged on Tuesday, in Minna, Niger State capital, when the Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, declared at the opening ceremony of a two-day national council on Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) that the Federal Government had no additional funds for the striking lecturers.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala told Commissioners of Finance and Accountant Generals of the 36 states of the federation’s ministries of finance and the FCT, Abuja, that the meeting in Minna, with the theme: ‘Restructuring Nigeria’s finances’, provided the opportunity for Nigerians, especially the stakeholders, to know the true financial predicaments government is facing.
The Federal Government has other sectoral needs to meet financial obligations and as such, extra financial demands with no additional responsibility by the ASUU to justify such demands in the face of current global economic downturn, the minister said “is not just possible.”
“At the federal level and in most states, our budget consists mostly of recurrent expenditure, yet we continue to demand for more recurrent spending,” she said, adding that the Federal Government could not meet the N92 billion in extra allowances as demanded by lecturers.
She urged all segments of the Nigerian society to wake up to the nations’ economic realities, saying: “At present, ASUU wants government to pay N92 billion in extra allowances even when the resources are not there. At the moment, the government is working on how to integrate past increases in pensions.”
“Nigeria and Nigerians must wake up to the global economic realities and make hard choices on how to sustain its economy for future generations instead of playing to the gallery,” the minister said, saying, “We need to make choices in this country as we are getting to a stage whereby recurrent expenditure takes the bulk of our resources and people get paid even when they can do no work.”
The coordinating minister of the present economy, who resigned from the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, expressed fears that, upon her return as minister of finance for the present regime, she realised that the share of recurrent expenditure in the annual budget had increased astronomically accounting for about 77.2 per cent of the federal budget.
Due to a number of factors, coupled with the over-dependence on oil revenue, Dr Okonjo-Iweala said, “We are now working to re-balance this ration but I am sure we have similar pictures in many states across the country.”
The minister cautioned the various tiers of government on the need to pay close attention on the management of debts as the country’s debt profile is gradually increasing. “After the successful debt relief initiative, the debt stock declined dramatically and the total debt stood at $17.3 billion as at August 2006, comprising of $3.5 billion in foreign debt and $13.8 billion in domestic debt, however by 2011, the total debt profile now stood at $47.9 billion and the domestic debt has now grown to about $42.3 billion.”
According to her, “Clearly, we had to do something about the rising levels of domestic debt but with the support of Mr President, we introduced a number of measures to manage our debt, particularly the domestic debt.”
“Nigeria’s over dependence on oil has resulted in deterioration of the nation’s non oil tax. In 1970, non oil taxes accounted for 74 per cent of government revenues, but by 2012, it had declined to only 30 per cent of Federal Government revenues,” Okonjo-Iweala stated.
“It is unfortunate that many states and local government councils now dependent on monthly revenue allocation from the central government,” she said, explaining that, “On average only 11 per cent of sub-national revenue was obtained from internally generated sources.”
“The Federal Government has taken measures towards revamping the economy and such measures have started yielding fruitful dividends through the introduction of direct capital investment which entails the establishment of industries and agro-based firms to create jobs,” she concluded.
Our demand beyond personal gain —ASUUDr Nasir Adesola, the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Tuesday, said demands of the union from Federal Government was beyond personal gain.
Adesola stated this, while briefing newsmen at the end of the zonal meeting of the union, held in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
He said the industrial action embarked upon by the union was due to the Federal Government’s failure to fulfil the 2009 agreement it had with the union, about saving Nigeria’s education system from collapsing.
Adesola said the union was not ready to call off the ongoing strike until Federal Government implements the agreement.
According to him, calling off the strike without the implementation of the agreement by Federal Government would continue to expose the Nigerian students to hardship in their respective institutions.
“Calling off the strike without our demands being met by Federal Government, simply means that we are telling our children to continue to learn in an unconducive environment.”
Adesola noted that each time the government reached an agreement with the union, it only paid attention to the aspect of salaries and failed to address aspects of funding of universities.
He added that ASUU was resolute in its decision to continue mounting pressure on the government, to stop paying lip service to university education.
Adesola added that the struggle by the union was geared towards uplifting the universities for all to be proud of.
“Government that is finding it difficult to fund education but spent billions of Naira conveniently on textile industries, aviation and even on Nollywood.
“If government continues its uncaring attitude toward education sector, many children from poor background will not be able to access university education,” Adesola said.
Tribune