ASUU: Ngige Blasts Jega Over Comment On Lingering Strike

Ngige has blasted Jega over his recent comment on the ASUU strike.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has berated the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, over his comment on the ongoing strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

This online media platform recalls that Jega, during an interview on Arise News on Tuesday, had accused Ngige of embarking on a personal vendetta against ASUU members.

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Jega said instead of working on how to resolve the ASUU strike which has been on since February 14, 2022, Ngige by his actions has been creating more problems.

He said the actions being taken by the federal government including the registration of the factional Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) to rival ASUU are simply recipes for disaster.

But in a statement on Thursday in Abuja by his media office, Ngige advised Jega to stand on the truth on the face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU.

The minister expressed disappointment in the former INEC chairman over his statement and his failure to advise ASUU on the lingering strike as a result of his experience as s former ASUU leader.

He accused ASUU of using the strike to mobilise voters against the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in the 2023 presidential election.

The statement reads: “Trade unionism must exist for the good of the unions, and their members, just as it must lead the vanguard of the public good. It must protect the nation and its people just as it shelters union members. It is not a social club for academics to act to the detriment of the nation. This is the piece of advice we thought Jega would avail his former comrades from his presumed deep mine of experience and now a trustee and adviser to ASUU.

“We had thought of overlooking Jega’s darts as a sheer exercise in esprit de corps, but Jega is now the national chairman of one of the opposition political parties whose mission is to wrestle power from the APC. Should we then ignore him when it is obvious that he is hiding under the ASUU strike to egg Nigerians into rebellion against the ruling party? How can we stand akimbo when the President of ASUU, Prof Osodeke had on national television (AIT and Arise ) urged Nigerians to vote out the APC? The video is circulation for all to access on Youtube.

“If the present ASUU leadership has turned Labour agitation into hooliganism, how does Jega define such unionism? Is abusing Ministers and top government officials, and sometimes trying to physically assault them part of the unionism that Jega is defending?

“In early 2020 after a meeting in the Presidential Villa, in the forecourt of the President’s office, the present ASUU President attempted a physical attack on one of the female Ministers but was restrained by the security men. The Minister had told the meeting that IPPIS officials who went to Nnamdi Azikiwe to capture lecturers on the IPPIS platform were physically attacked by ASUU Exco members.”

It added: “In 2022 when this strike was declared, ASUU also threatened the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy with the withdrawal of his professorship from Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, while the present Director General of NITDA was equally threatened with the withdrawal of his Bachelor degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The sin of these two government officials is that they discharged their function of testing UTAS as demanded by the government and presented reports which showed the platform failed integrity tests in March 2022.

“Though the union does not have such powers to withdraw certificates or impose similar sanctions, why did this go unnoticed by Jega? Encouragement of mischief, you may say because he belongs to the same constituency.

“Jega should also now know of the threat by some overzealous ASUU officials at the University of Lagos to the daughter of the Minister of Labour in September 2020, that she would be failed in her final MBBs exams if the father continued to support government positions. Ngige’s children are all products of medical schools of public universities – UNILAG, COUTH, Awka and UNIABUJA. Jega’s children are all overseas!

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“Are all these part of decent unionism or sheer acts of intimidation deployed in negotiations? Professor Jega is now a full-blown politician and part of the opposition that wants the All Progressive Congress, APC, out and would rather not see this. Prof, permit us to tell you this straight. You are not in a position to judge or offer any unbiased opinion in this matter.”

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