ASUU strike: Lecturers not asking to be paid for work not done – Falana

Cursory: In a recent interview, the human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, who is the legal representative of ASUU in their legal battle with the federal government, revealed his thoughts on the ongoing strike.

Femi Falana, the legal representative of ASUU, has responded to the claim that lecturers are asking to be paid for work not done.

Falan’s word: 

“The government said we can’t pay ASUU for being on strike…if the strike is called off today, unlike other sectors of the economy, ASUU will ensure that the syllabus for the year is covered.

“In other words, no student will miss a lecture because they are going to have crash programmes, no holidays, no weekends, lectures will be taken. So, they are going to work. They are not saying ‘pay us for services we are not going to render.”

He also pointed out that the government knows the solution to the ongoing strike but are unwilling to solve it.

In his words

“I am sad that we are going through these avoidable strikes where students cannot predict when they are going to complete their courses.

“I have been involved in the negotiation between the government and ASUU since 1992 and the attitude of the government is not to address the problems that led to the strike.

“Instead of addressing the problem, successive governments go around trying to destabilise ASUU.

“[The main issues are] the revitalisation of the university system through adequate funding, improvement of the condition of service of lecturers so that our universities can compete. The government agreed in 2019 and an agreement was signed.

“All the government says is we have no money, but the same administration, this year alone, increased fuel subsidy from 443 billion Naira to 4 trillion Naira and we are now being told that before the end of the year, that figure may metamorphose into 6.5 trillion. So where are you getting such money to fund waste and fraud but when it comes to education you say you have no money, I think these are some of the issues.”

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