By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
Barely one week to the end of the present administration, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has called on the Federal Government to give legislative backing to parts of the agreement the duo entered into in 2009 before they can be implemented.

Chairman of ASUU, University of Calabar branch, Dr. James Okpiliya, who made the call in Calabar, Cross River State, said it was sad that the Federal Government had reneged on the agreement it reached with the union which took two years to re-negotiate.

“In fact, the government has failed or refused to enact the enabling laws to facilitate the implementation and enforcement of some key aspects of that agreement, two years after. One of such areas of the agreement is the 70 years retirement age for lecturers at the professorial cadre, which was expected to be given the enabling legislation a few months after the agreement was reached.

“This attitude of the Federal Government and the National Assembly has caused much anxiety in the academia,” he said.

With less than two weeks to the end of this administration, we cannot help but conclude that quite characteristically, and sadly too, the government is ill-willing to give legislative backing to parts of the agreement that need legislation before they can be implemented”, he said.

Dr. Okpiliya said the agreement were geared towards reversing the decay in the University system in order to reposition it for greater responsibilities in national development, reverse the brain drain by enhancing the remuneration of academic staff and disengaging them from the encumbrances of a unified civil service structure and also ensure University autonomy and academic freedom.

“Regrettably, these have not happened, as government has continued to play politics with the implementation of the Agreement. If Nigerian Universities must continue to be relevant, they must be definitely recovered from the rot, poor funding, brain drain and general inefficiency that characterize them”, he said.