By Okuta Okuta
Terngu Sylvanus Nomishan, I can see how hard you laboured to come up with this piece, “ Ngige: A Nightmare to ASUU Struggle.” However, the entire effort can objectively be attributed to a quartet of ignorance, outright falsehood, blackmail with a poorly rehearsed conspiracy thesis. Forgivable though, what irks the more is the level of ignorance from someone who openly identifies himself as a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies of the Federal University, Lokoja . What and how do you teach your students? Phew!
Before dissecting other issues you raised, let me start by educating you that whenever an industrial dispute between a ministry, department or any agency of government and unions peaks in a strike, it automatically becomes the responsibility of the Minister of labour and Employment to conciliate . Where conciliation fails, he has the option of transmitting the dispute to a higher level of adjudication at the Industrial Arbitration Panel or the National Industrial Court. Do you now understand? So, please save your readers this ridiculous tale of “Ngige asking the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to allow him settle the issues presented by ASUU.” ASUU couldn’t settle its dispute with its parent ministry, went on strike as a result and the dispute ended on the table of the Minister of Labour, who apprehended the strike, though ASUU bluntly refused to obey the Trade Disputes Act that makes it mandatory for unions to call off action once it is apprehended. Tengu, please take note that Ngige has effectively conciliated 11 out 12 issues which ASUU brought to the table in 2017. The only one left is the re-negotiation of 2009 agreement – which is essentially salary increment for university workers . The UTAS payment platform only came in 2019. Hope that shows a minister who is not diligent and competent at work?
If according to you “ progress in re-negotiating the 2009 agreement only began to surface when Ngige resigned from duties to pursue a political ambition,” and within a month, Adamu resolved all , why has ASUU not called off strike? This is another trace of ignorance littering the entire piece. No one could recall when Ngige resigned for one month except you, may be in your dream anyway. Fact is that the Federal Government within the space of time in reference, replaced the Munzali Committee with the current one headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs. Its charge is to directly interface with the Ministry of Education, other relevant government agencies and ASUU in renegotiating the 2009 agreement. Of course as the conciliator , the Minister of Labour empaneled an Inter-Ministerial, Departments and Agencies Committee comprising the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning , Budget Office , National Salaries Income and Wages Commission to ensure that whatever agreement signed by government is implementable and forestall a situation where unions manouvre government into agreements that cannot be supported by the national budget. Of course, government is thoughtful about salary increment for university workers but pursues same in a manner that won’t trigger disequilibrium in the national wage bill. The 2009 agreement is still an issue because the previous government was led into an agreement it could not implement. Hence, the Minister of Labour receives report from the inter-ministerial/agency committee to properly advise and ensure that no bogus agreement which the Federal Government cannot implement, is entered into.
Here again, your claim of conspiracy between the Minister of labour and the former Accountant General of the Federation over the 1000 fake workers recently discovered by IPPIS is at one hand stupid but forgivable again because of that common streak of ignorance running through your piece. Mr. lecturer , it was the Minister of Labour that raised the red flag and reported the matter of “fake workers” injected into his ministry by a powerful cabal . It was on the basis of his report that action was taken. So, please pay tribute to this diligent and honest Minister.
That such conspiracy is even linked to the issue of No work , No pay as contained in section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act beggars belief. So, Ngige has become the maker of the Trade Disputes Act? See Terngu, that the Federal Government invoked this provision only once along the ceaseless gale of strikes by ASUU since 2017 is because of the pro-people and considerate approach of the Minister of Labour . Even when it was invoked in 2020, Ngige still had to prevail on the President to bend backwards. So what’s the issue here?
Interestingly too, your position on UTAS is no less disingenuous . The question is, why is ASUU running away from IPPIS in the first place? Why is ASUU comfortable with GIFMIS and fly off the handle over IPPIS? GIFMIS provides a leeway for them to connive with corrupt agents of states government to pay pittance , in some cases as low as N2000 as monthly PAYE tax , only for the same states government to turn around and ask the Federal Government for reimbursement of the differentials . The Federal Government had made such refunds to various state governments to the tune of N890b between 2016 -2017. The truth however is that as good as UTAS is and as disposed as the Federal Government is to home grown technology and intellectual values, as captured in its Executive Order No. 4, the platform is yet to scale through the integrity and vulnerability tests which invest it with potency against fraud. The conspiracy being woven here is hence baseless, just as it is difficult to place the attempt by ASUU to revoke the professorship of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and later, seek to nullify his degree from ABU Zaria. Do not forget that the Minister of Labour also empaneled a committee to ensure a seamless conduct of NITDA test on UTAS.
But Terngu Sylvanus Nomishan, are you really a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies at the Federal University Lokoja or just a cleaner ? This piece says a lot about you . How could a lecturer author such an illogicality, fraught with elementary errors in grammar? What and how do you teach your students? Let’s have a look.
(a)Little did Adamu Adamu or ASUU ‘knew’ the intention of Ngige
(b)Even the media got to know that once there was any interview with Ngige on ASUU matter, the former minister of state for education was also supposed to be granted an interview.
(c)because of a relationship Ngige ‘have’ with Pantami.
(d)This same unfortunate man, having ‘cause’ enough confusion.
We are talking of eighty-nine(89) badly structured words, in syntactically, paradigmatically challenged sentences, out of a total of 820 worded essay! This is from a lecturer who ought to embody academic quintessence? This goes further to prove the quality of some of the teachers in our universities and the defining reason for the low quality, mechanist thinking, that has resulted in the mercantile approach of university unions to the challenges in the system. I wish you luck. anyway.
Okuta writes from Lagos
