Renowned human right activist and senior lawyer, Femi Falana has knocked those berating ASUU to advise the Federal Government to give priority to the funding of tertiary education in the country.
Speakings on the threat of prescribing the union by the Federal lawmaker, the lawyer said that ASUU union cannot be proscribed because it is protected by Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
The senior lawyer however urged ASUU to resume negotiations with the government in the interest of students and the country.
Falana, in a statement titled “Why ASUU cannot be banned,” advised the government to faithfully implement the agreements it reached with ASUU.
Speaking on ways in which the government had caused the strike, he revealed some policies in place for it (government) to fund tertiary education.
The senior lawyer said” “Under the current democratic dispensation the fundamental right of citizens to form or belong to political parties and trade unions is guaranteed by section 40 of the Constitution and Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
“As a member of the committee of civilised nations, the government of Nigeria has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention No 87 of the International Labour Organisation Convention.
“It is pertinent to note that parties to the Convention are obligated to ensure the right of both employers and employees to join an organisation of their choice and free from any influence of authorities which belong to the core principles of the ILO(International Labour Organisation).”
According to him, in the 1992 and 2009 agreements, it was expressly stated that the money realised from the sale of abandoned Federal Government properties in Lagos should be used to fund tertiary education.
The human right activist lamented that that some of the properties were sold to powerful individuals and corporate bodies, including multinational corporations.
“Since a number of the properties have not been sold the Federal Government should turn them over to the universities in line with the terms of the FG/ASUU Collective Agreements,” the rights activists advised.
He added that that the government had also failed to implement the TETFUND Act which imposes a two per cent education tax on the profit of companies operating in Nigeria.
Falana said: “Regrettably, the fund is collected in a rather haphazard manner by the Federal Government. In spite of pressure from ASUU, the Federal Government has failed to recover the several billions of Naira from companies that have defaulted in contributing to the Fund.
“The government has also refused to publish the list of companies that are qualified to contribute to the fund for the purpose of monitoring the collection and updating the list. There are other leakages in the system which could be blocked by the Federal Government in collaboration with all trade unions in the tertiary institutions,” he noted.
“It may also interest concerned citizens to know that pursuant to the 1992 Agreement, the management of the universities had registered and established consultancy firms to handle jobs by professionals in the academic community in the country.
“But the university councils peopled by government appointees prefer to farm out multi-million naira contracts to contractors nominated by the ruling political parties. Through such dubious arrangements, the meagre fund earmarked for capital projects in the universities is diverted as a number of the projects are abandoned.
“It is on record that some cases of large-scale corruption reported to the anti-graft agencies were not allowed to be investigated by the Federal Government.”
