Tuesday 24 June 2014

UNIABUJA CRISIS



  MANAGEMENT MUST MEET THE DEMANDS OF LECTURERS AND REOPEN THE UNIVERSITY

PRESS STATEMENT

We of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condemn in strong terms the repression of protests of the University of Abuja students held on 16th June, 2014 by security operatives and the subsequent forceful closure of the two campuses of the university. The students had turned out in large number to agitate for the resolution of the crisis between the management and of the university chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) so as to allow the conduct of examinations.

The ASUU branch of the university has commenced an indefinite strike action since June 2nd, 2014.The strike action is to protest the alleged misappropriation of funds allocated to the institution by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor James Adelabu.  ASUU UNIABUJA is also alleging that the Vice-Chancellor deliberately refused to pay their teaching, marking, supervision and professional allowances dating back to 2010! To add insults to injury, he has also refused  and neglected to pay the check-off dues of the union to them since May 2013!It is also calling for the release of the White Paper of the Visitation Panel of government to the university.

The attack on the fundamental rights of the students of UNIABUJA who hit the streets to call for end of the crisis in the university is unwarranted. It is altogether part of the deliberate and systematic militarisation of the country by the current Jonathan regime and attack on the democratic rights of the working people with impunity.

We call on the UNIABUJA management to meet the demands of the lecturers in order for the university to resume for students to sit for the examinations.

The ERC also calls for coordinated national mass actions of Nigerian students to resist the wave of fee hike as in OAU, LASU, UNIPORT and TASUED as well as solidarity protests in support of the protracted strike action of ASUP and COEASU and attacks on democratic rights as was the case in UNIABUJA.

HT Soweto
National Coordinator, ERC
07033697259

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