Our Fight Beyond Salaries, Welfare –ASUU Tells Members
Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), cautioned members against portraying the union’s endeavor solely as a battle for their own salaries and welfare, neglecting the imperative of enhancing public universities.
Osodeke remarked that previous unions disproportionately prioritized members ‘salaries and welfare as the sole objectives of their battles, instead of advocating vigorously for the preservation, sustainability and effectiveness of public institutions and systems.
He cited instances such as the worker’s unions within the defunct Nigeria Railways, National Electric Power Authority, and Nigeria Airways among others, to illustrate how employees lost their jobs as those public institutions crumbled due to such an approach.
He said that had the unions in such places fought for the survival and preservation of the public institutions, they would still be standing today as national assets and employers of labour.
Osodeke revealed this while delivering comments at a ‘University-wide Seminar titled “The Demands of Scholarship in the 21st Century’ which continued into its second day on Wednesday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.
Osodeke expressed concern over the practicability of the Federal Government’s student loan scheme to work in favour of ordinary Nigerians from modest backgrounds, saying “Given the stringent conditions for accessing the scheme, it is certain that it would end up serving the interest of children from already wealthy families”.
