Ebierelayefa Okosu<\/p>\n
This disquisition has arisen from the unending questions that now surround
\nthe controversial indefinite strike being embarked upon by the lecturers of
\nthe Niger Delta University (NDU). Now in its fourth month, the strike
\naction, which has done irreparable damage to the academic calendar of the
\ninstitution, is losing sympathy and support in many quarters, within and
\noutside Bayelsa State, because it seems to have lost its shock-value and
\nhas dragged on for too long than necessary.<\/p>\n
It is apparent that the NDU lecturers’ strike has also lost the popularity
\nit initially enjoyed, seeing that some facts that were recondite as at when
\nthe strike commenced have come to the open. To start with, it is now an
\nopen secret that the Bayelsa State Government had been faithfully
\ncommitting close to a eighth (1\/8) part of the entire monthly wage bill of
\nthe state to pay faculty and non-academic staff of the NDU until the
\npresent economic downturn set in.<\/p>\n
As one would expect under any administration, the economic downturn had
\nprecipitated a fiscal structural adjustment (apologies to IBB), whereby
\nmeeting up recurrent obligations like the salaries of the lecturers and
\nother workers at the NDU, became an uphill task since January. However,
\nthis picture doesn’t hold true for only the NDU lecturers; it holds true,
\nand of course, cuts across all the MDAs of the Bayelsa State Government.<\/p>\n
It is for this reason the Bayelsa State chapters of the Nigerian Labour
\nCongress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) constructively
\nnegotiated with government and arrived at a modus vivendi to receive full
\nsalaries for January, and subsequently, receive 50 percent of their
\nsalaries until there is remarkable improvement in revenue to the state.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that being a responsible institution, the Bayelsa State
\nGovernment opened its doors of negotiation to the striking lecturers no
\nsooner than they began the industrial action on April 23. During the
\nnegotiations with government, the lecturers under the aegis of the Academic
\nStaff Union of Universities (ASUU), NDU chapter, made a battery of demands,
\nchief among which, the immediate setting up of a Development Plan for the
\nuniversity. The lecturers also demanded the payment of promotion arrears to
\ntheir members.<\/p>\n
Other demands were the payment of three months’ outstanding salaries then,
\nas well as the payment of graduate assistants teaching in the varsity, as
\nconditions for ending the strike.<\/p>\n
The Bayelsa State Government on its part offered to make full payment of
\nJanuary salaries to all cadres of staff at the NDU, and 50 percent payment
\nof salaries for subsequent months. (The January salaries have since been
\npaid as agreed by government). The State Government also accepted the
\nproposal for setting up the Niger Delta University Development Plan.
\nInvestigations showed that the plan has already been set up, while the
\nmodalities for its implementation are being worked out by government.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, to demonstrate government’s desire to keep the NDU afloat as
\nBayelsa’s flagship academic institution, the State Government did not only
\naccept to pay the graduate assistants as requested, but also gave approval
\nfor the payment all promotion arrears to faculty and non-academic staff
\nwithout any ado.<\/p>\n
Given these concrete, substantial steps taken so far to meet the demands of
\nthe NDU lecturers in the face of daunting economic challenges amidst an
\nexcruciating financial climate, one would have expected the lecturers to
\nsoft-pedal and by now, opt for the classroom while negotiations for a
\nbetter deal continue. The public perception the lecturers are labouring
\nhard to create at the expense of the educational development of Bayelsa
\nState, that government is not doing enough for their well being even at
\nthis time, is absurd and uncalled for. It is way off the realities on the
\nground.<\/p>\n
The pertinent questions then are these: If medical doctors, nurses,
\npharmacists and other health personnel in government’s employ, who are as
\nimportant as lecturers are to society, can accept the temporary 50 percent
\nsalary arrangement, why can’t the NDU lecturers do the same thing? If
\njudges, magistrates, court registrars and other important judiciary staff
\nin Bayelsa State can accept the 50 percent salary offered by government
\nhaving appreciated the difficult times the nation is passing through, why
\ncan’t the NDU lecturers emulate them, call off their strike and save the
\neducational future of our children studying at the NDU? Moreover, if every
\nworker on the payroll of the State Government has seen the need to make
\nsome sacrifice by accepting the half salary option, with the belief that
\nthe remnant 50 percent would be paid once the economy improves, why can’t
\nthe NDU lecturers make the same sacrifice as learned ‘patriotic’ citizens
\nof the state?<\/p>\n
The lecturers need do the needful even as negotiations go on, with a view
\nto work out an amicable resolution of the contentious issues involved in
\nthe present financial quagmire.<\/p>\n
It needs to be emphasized that by no stretch of imagination is the Bayelsa
\nState Government planning to shirk its responsibility to the NDU. Although
\nit has expressed some reservations on the N500 million salary expenditure
\nto pay workers alone at the NDU, scrapping the NDU or starving it of
\nfunding is definitely not on the cards. The half-a-billion monthly salary
\nbill is on the high side when it is carefully considered that it represents
\nnothing short of 12.5 percent of the state’s entire recurrent spending
\nevery month.<\/p>\n
However, findings from impeccable sources indicate strongly that the NDU
\ngenerates about N1.5 billion annually. This amount is unaccounted for, yet
\nit is solely, independently managed by the Management of the institution.
\nWhile this had been the unhealthy practice over the years, the economic
\nsituation in the state and country today demands a radical paradigm shift –
\nthe internally generated revenue of the NDU should henceforth be properly
\naccounted for by the Management. Records of such past spendings in the last
\ncouple of years should be audited. The State Government should be properly
\nbriefed and furnished of the school’s financial dealings at the close of
\nevery session. After all, he who pays the piper also calls the tune.<\/p>\n
The NDU lecturers can only be fair to the state if they immediately call
\noff their prolonged strike since government has met three key items on
\ntheir four-point menu of demands. It bears repetition to stress that the
\nhalf salary payment option, which is informed by the sharp drop in
\nstatutory earnings, affects all strata of workers in the Bayelsa State
\nCivil Service. It is not offered to the NDU lecturers alone as the local
\nbranch of the ASUU and the opposition media lapdogs in the state want the
\nworld to believe. In fact, the lecturers’ continued non-compromising stance
\nis not only preposterously unreasonable but completely detrimental to the
\neducational development of Bayelsa State.<\/p>\n
The Ijaws have an old saying that if a fisherman gets angry at a leaking
\ncanoe he himself is inside in the middle of the river and allows it to
\nleak, he ends up going down with it. One prays that this should not be the
\nlot of the striking NDU lecturers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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