HammerTimes News Online

Tag: #CSO

  • Alleged N500bn scam: CSO petitions EFCC, ICPC, demands Ayade’s probe

    A coalition of civil societies under the aegis of Network Against Corruption and Trafficking (NACAT) has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged financial impropriety against Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River.

    The Spokesperson for NACAT, Mr Iteveh Ekpokpobe, in a news conference in Abuja cited an audit report of the state treasury between 2015 and 2020, accusing Ayade of squandered state resources.

    Details of the report accused Ayade of diverting funds meant for infrastructure development, workers’ welfare, and other critical sectors to personal use.

    According to Ekpokpobe, the audit report shows that Ayade’s administration mismanaged over N500 billion during his first tenure as governor.

    He also alleged that the governor engaged in money laundering activities, using his personal businesses, Leophina Works Limited and Hally Brown International Limited, to siphon state funds.

    “We are calling on the EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to immediately commence an investigation into Gov. Ayade’s activities while in office.

    “The audit report clearly shows that he misused state resources and engaged in financial crimes.

    “We believe that he must be held accountable for his actions and made to face the full wrath of the law,” Ekpokpobe said.

    He said that NACAT, through a comprehensive audit, discovered financial irregularities ranging from circumvention of procurement processes, suspicious payments of monies, possible money laundering, to award of contracts to non-existent Shell Companies.

    “It is on this note that we are calling on the EFCC to quickly invite him to give clarification on these blatant irregularities bothering on wanton looting of the Cross River State’s treasury to the tune of over N500 billion

    “These financial manipulations have cost the good people of Cross River State, money amounting to over 500 billion Naira, under the watch of Prof. Ben Ayade,’’ Ekpokpobe said.

    But when contacted, Ayade’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Christian Ita, told newsmen that the claims were laughable, baseless and politically motivated.

    He accused NACAT of being a tool in the hands of opposition politicians, who were desperate to tarnish the governor’s image.

    “Please, before I respond, kindly do us a favour, and calculate how much allocations have come to the state in eight years. They’re published by the Federal Government.

    The state hasn’t earned that kind of money in eight years. So, from where did he see N500 billion to steal,” Ita said. (NAN)

  • UBEC to partner with CSO on basic education delivery

    The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is to work with the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) on basic education delivery in the country.

    The Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said this when he received the new CSACEFA Facilitating Committee/Board management in his office in Abuja on Friday.

    Bobboyi said the coalition must step up its game in monitoring state government projects, saying this would drive education reforms to benefit Nigerians especially those living in the rural areas.

    He commended the coalition for the critical role played in addressing some of the challenges of basic education leading to the development of the sector.

    According to him, the challenges of basic education are enormous but besides the challenges, there is the synergy required by actors.

    “I urge CSACEFA to expand its activities in the education space to make a difference in the lives of the children and the future of our country.

    “We need to find a way to strengthen the partnerships with organisation like CSACEFA to foster educational development, so we must expand our collaborations,” he said.

    The executive secretary blamed state governments for neglect of basic education, stressing that basic education constitutionally belonged to state.

    ‘“A lot of states don’t pay attention to what is required to develop basic education because during some of our visits, we see a lot of neglects by states.

    “When you cannot compensate teachers adequately, they will not discharge their responsibilities because you need the teachers to function optimally to deliver education and moral life of the children.

    “Stakeholders must function effectively to see that this happen. When a child spends six years in school and cannot read and write, then something is very wrong.

    “So, all hands must be on deck to investigate projects approved but not executed because we need to make sure projects sponsored come out strong and well,” he added.

    Also speaking, the National Moderator of the Coalition, Mr Duke Ogbureke called for more support in ensuring no child was left behind in accessing quality education.

    Ogbureke said the coalition was looking forward to greater opportunities to collaborate with UBEC in all activities, especially in its third party collaboration for overall progress in the sector.

    He expressed worry over the high number of out-of-school children in the country, saying if nothing was done; it could lead out-of-school children and youths merchant of terrorism. (NAN)

  • UBEC to partner with CSO on basic education delivery

    The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is to work with the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) on basic education delivery in the country.

    The Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, said this when he received the new CSACEFA Facilitating Committee/Board management in his office in Abuja on Friday.

    Bobboyi said the coalition must step up its game in monitoring state government projects, saying this would drive education reforms to benefit Nigerians especially those living in the rural areas.

    He commended the coalition for the critical role played in addressing some of the challenges of basic education leading to the development of the sector.

    According to him, the challenges of basic education are enormous but besides the challenges, there is the synergy required by actors.

    “I urge CSACEFA to expand its activities in the education space to make a difference in the lives of the children and the future of our country.

    “We need to find a way to strengthen the partnerships with organisation like CSACEFA to foster educational development, so we must expand our collaborations,” he said.

    The executive secretary blamed state governments for neglect of basic education, stressing that basic education constitutionally belonged to state.

    ‘“A lot of states don’t pay attention to what is required to develop basic education because during some of our visits, we see a lot of neglects by states.

    “When you cannot compensate teachers adequately, they will not discharge their responsibilities because you need the teachers to function optimally to deliver education and moral life of the children.

    “Stakeholders must function effectively to see that this happen. When a child spends six years in school and cannot read and write, then something is very wrong.

    “So, all hands must be on deck to investigate projects approved but not executed because we need to make sure projects sponsored come out strong and well,” he added.

    Also speaking, the National Moderator of the Coalition, Mr Duke Ogbureke called for more support in ensuring no child was left behind in accessing quality education.

    Ogbureke said the coalition was looking forward to greater opportunities to collaborate with UBEC in all activities, especially in its third party collaboration for overall progress in the sector.

    He expressed worry over the high number of out-of-school children in the country, saying if nothing was done; it could lead out-of-school children and youths merchant of terrorism. (NAN)

  • Situation Room calls for independent inquiry into conduct of 2023 General Elections

    The Civil Society Situation Room, has called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria.

    The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) made the call in their Second Interim Statement on the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on Sunday in Abuja.

    The report, signed by the Convener, Ene Obi, and co-coveners Asma’u Joda and James Ugochukwu, said investigation was necessary to unravel the challenges experienced and some irregularities.

    Obi said that the Situation Room’s observation and analysis of the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections indicated that there were huge shortcomings with the management of electoral operations and logistics as well as election security.

    She said that the elections were characterised by late commencement, insufficient election materials, challenge with upload of results, violence, and vote buying, among others.

    “Situation Room notes that Nigeria has again missed the opportunity to deliver on credible elections even at the grassroots level.

    “In the light of the serious shortcomings with the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections, the Situation Room calls for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria.

    “This independent inquiry should address, amongst other issues, procurement, logistics management and abuse of electoral process by INEC and security officials.

    “This is urgently needed to identify challenges and make recommendations towards repairing the damaged credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process.”

    According to Obi, it is imperative to undertake a national debate to address all these critical challenges that still confront Nigeria’s electoral process.

    She said that this, without doubt, would enthrone more transparency and help to build peoples’ confidence in the democratic process.

    She said that Situation Room observations indicate a worrying level of voter apathy with the Governorship and State Assemblies polls in an election that should resonate more with citizens.

    She added that Situation Room observers reported high prevalence of vote buying across the country.

    She said that items given in exchange for votes included clothing items, food items and money, amounts ranging from N500 to N5,000 in cash, transfer or promissory notes.

    Obi said Situation Room observers were harassed and obstructed from carrying out their duties and some journalists from AIT, ARISE TV among others, were also attacked.

    “The Situation Room also received a disturbing report that 19 INEC ad-hoc staff who were on their way to seven different polling units in Ugbelie Ward 06 in Ideato South LGA of Imo State were abducted by unknown persons.

    “There were reports of attack on voting centres in an IDP camp in Uhogwa, Ovia North East LGA of Edo State, by armed hoodlums.

    “In addition, there were reports of voter intimidation, disruption of voting and destruction of election materials in polling units visited in Enugu, Imo, Sokoto, Delta, Niger, Gombe, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom and Ogun States.”

    Obi said that the  Situation Room called on government to urgently address this persistent issue of election violence. (NAN)

  • Civil societies task to interrogate states government on education funds

    The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) has been tasked to interrogate states governments in the utilisation of education funds leading to the outrageous number of out-of-school children in the country.

    The Register/Chief Executive, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye said this at the 2022 Annual General Forum (AGF) of the coalition.

    The theme of the forum is tagged:’ Building Back Better: Repositioning CSACEFA for Effective Citizens Mobilisation and Engagement towards Achieving Education 2030′.

    Ajiboye expressed concern over the 20 million out-of-school children recently declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in spite of various programmes of the government at reducing the figure.

    He called on the coalition to also challenge some states who had refused to make their counterpart funding to assess the UBEC matching grant.

    ” We have been able to address some of the challenges that are confronting the issue of education in Nigeria, for example, when you are talking of funding of education, you look at the issue of UBEC funding.

    ” Government makes a provision for education funding where N500 million are supposed to be a counterpart funding, a matching grant from the states.

    ” You will discover that some states are not actually assessing the funds as and when due and a few of the states over the years actually abandoned that and they are doing some other things.

    ” And that’s why we need this civil society groups to be able to interrogate the level of involvement of the state in terms of assessing some of these funds,” he said.
    Ajiboye also challenged the coalition to interrogate the school feeding programme to know if actually addressing the out-of-school problem in the country.

    ” The school feeding programme is part of the project that has been put in place to arrest this number of out-of-school children in the country.

    ” So part of the thing that civil society group need to do is actually to interrogate this. Let us see how far we have been able to go with the school feeding, to what impact has the school feeding system done.

    “Another thing is also the cash transfer policy that has been adopted in some states of the federation. All these things aimed at reducing the number of out-of-school children, what is the impact?

    “Are you telling us that it’s not achieving the desired goal? This I think is the role of our civil society group. And this is where CSACEFA actually comes in,” he said.

    He stressed that in spite of the challenges in the country’s educational sector, Nigerians were still sorted after in the global world.

    He, therefore, called on stakeholders to begin to look at the other positive aspects and be able to accentuate those positive aspects of Nigeria education system, rather than to disparage the old system generally.

    The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the coalition, Tom Maiyashi said that there was need for the country to first address the problems of poverty to get the sector at its rightful place.

    ” We must not watch our country going down, the state of education, particularly basic education is facing monumental crisis.

    ” We must interrogate ourselves and do a rethink as we cannot afford to play politics with our education.

    ” Education is the greatest weapon to fight poverty and poverty is the greatest enemy if education, so we need to tackle the issue of poverty.

    ” Because the issue of school feeding is not sustainable. How many children are you providing for? With the school feeding programme, you still hear the figures of children who are out of school as 20 million, this figure is not fake There’s the fundamental issue of poverty which is ravaging or rural communities,” he said.
    Meanwhile, the National Moderator of CSACEFA, Abdullahi Sale, promised to be objective in its dealing with holding government accountable in its various projects.

    ” I can assure you that we can advise government properly and looking at the perspective of what happened in the National Assembly, they actually have the the mandate to perform oversight in whatever government does.

    “And they are now challenging the implementation for us, and as civil society, we are actually not happy because we expected something better.

    “Therefore, we will the civil society also do our own best to see how we can look at these things passionately then also serve as advisor where we can,” he said.

    Also, Prof. Clerk Brandon, National Coordinator, Science and Technology Base Advancement Programme, said that there was need to strengthen the fundamentality of the knowledge system to become a self-sufficient nation.

    Brandon charged Nigeria to take advantage of its population to invest in its human capital for global competitiveness.

  • Civil societies task to interrogate states government on education funds

    The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) has been tasked to interrogate states governments in the utilisation of education funds leading to the outrageous number of out-of-school children in the country.

    The Register/Chief Executive, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Prof. Josiah Ajiboye said this at the 2022 Annual General Forum (AGF) of the coalition.

    The theme of the forum is tagged:’ Building Back Better: Repositioning CSACEFA for Effective Citizens Mobilisation and Engagement towards Achieving Education 2030′.

    Ajiboye expressed concern over the 20 million out-of-school children recently declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in spite of various programmes of the government at reducing the figure.

    He called on the coalition to also challenge some states who had refused to make their counterpart funding to assess the UBEC matching grant.

    ” We have been able to address some of the challenges that are confronting the issue of education in Nigeria, for example, when you are talking of funding of education, you look at the issue of UBEC funding.

    ” Government makes a provision for education funding where N500 million are supposed to be a counterpart funding, a matching grant from the states.

    ” You will discover that some states are not actually assessing the funds as and when due and a few of the states over the years actually abandoned that and they are doing some other things.

    ” And that’s why we need this civil society groups to be able to interrogate the level of involvement of the state in terms of assessing some of these funds,” he said.
    Ajiboye also challenged the coalition to interrogate the school feeding programme to know if actually addressing the out-of-school problem in the country.

    ” The school feeding programme is part of the project that has been put in place to arrest this number of out-of-school children in the country.

    ” So part of the thing that civil society group need to do is actually to interrogate this. Let us see how far we have been able to go with the school feeding, to what impact has the school feeding system done.

    “Another thing is also the cash transfer policy that has been adopted in some states of the federation. All these things aimed at reducing the number of out-of-school children, what is the impact?

    “Are you telling us that it’s not achieving the desired goal? This I think is the role of our civil society group. And this is where CSACEFA actually comes in,” he said.

    He stressed that in spite of the challenges in the country’s educational sector, Nigerians were still sorted after in the global world.

    He, therefore, called on stakeholders to begin to look at the other positive aspects and be able to accentuate those positive aspects of Nigeria education system, rather than to disparage the old system generally.

    The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the coalition, Tom Maiyashi said that there was need for the country to first address the problems of poverty to get the sector at its rightful place.

    ” We must not watch our country going down, the state of education, particularly basic education is facing monumental crisis.

    ” We must interrogate ourselves and do a rethink as we cannot afford to play politics with our education.

    ” Education is the greatest weapon to fight poverty and poverty is the greatest enemy if education, so we need to tackle the issue of poverty.

    ” Because the issue of school feeding is not sustainable. How many children are you providing for? With the school feeding programme, you still hear the figures of children who are out of school as 20 million, this figure is not fake There’s the fundamental issue of poverty which is ravaging or rural communities,” he said.
    Meanwhile, the National Moderator of CSACEFA, Abdullahi Sale, promised to be objective in its dealing with holding government accountable in its various projects.

    ” I can assure you that we can advise government properly and looking at the perspective of what happened in the National Assembly, they actually have the the mandate to perform oversight in whatever government does.

    “And they are now challenging the implementation for us, and as civil society, we are actually not happy because we expected something better.

    “Therefore, we will the civil society also do our own best to see how we can look at these things passionately then also serve as advisor where we can,” he said.

    Also, Prof. Clerk Brandon, National Coordinator, Science and Technology Base Advancement Programme, said that there was need to strengthen the fundamentality of the knowledge system to become a self-sufficient nation.

    Brandon charged Nigeria to take advantage of its population to invest in its human capital for global competitiveness.

  • EFCC sensitises CSOs on financial crimes in Sokoto


    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sensitised Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Sokoto State on money laundering and illicit financial transactions in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised in collaboration with the Coalition of CSOs in yhe state to ensure that financial transactions were done in a decent and sanitised manner.

    In his address Mr Aliyu Hassan, the EFCC Director, Sokoto Zonal Office, appreciated the coalition for collaborating with the commission toward addressing the prolonged challenges in financial transactions.

    He said that EFCC was in the state for development, adding that  its Special Control Unit of Money Laundering (SCUML). was established in 2005, to fight illicit financial transactions and other relevant financial crimes.

    “Since its establishment, the unit has cut across all sectors of the economy making sure that financial regulations were not truncated at whatever level of transaction,” he said.

    He urged the public to be cautious and watchful about financial transactions as well as remain very much vigilant on who were their associates.

    In his remarks, Alhaji Hassan Maccido, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, assured of the state government;s commitment to ensure financial prudence between NGOs and Donor Agencies.

    He charged the NGOs to seek for knowledge of their regulators on how they should operate and be subjected to registration.

    Maccido identified EFCC as one of the agencies of Federal Government that have continued to be respected following their commitment.

    “EFCC ahould stand firm to ensure that financial dealings are done lawfully based on Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022 and other financial regulations,” he yrged

    Earlier, the Guest Speaker Prof. Tukur Baba of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, tasked NGOs and CSOs to work together in ”checkmating government circle on how things were done.

    “Our challenges in Nigeria were based on number of illicit financial transactions and money laundering conspired by few among us.”

    Baba further urged NGOs not to be over dependent on Donor Agencies, saying, “You should rise to stand on your feet and independent. This is the only way to achieve your collective desired objectives.”

    The Coalition of Sokoto CSOs Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Shuni, said that the conference was in continuation of the EFCC week’s activities.

    He urged the participants to intensify efforts and increase their performances through capacity building of members on self regulatory framework of their group members. (NAN)

  • EFCC sensitises CSOs on financial crimes in Sokoto


    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sensitised Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Sokoto State on money laundering and illicit financial transactions in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised in collaboration with the Coalition of CSOs in yhe state to ensure that financial transactions were done in a decent and sanitised manner.

    In his address Mr Aliyu Hassan, the EFCC Director, Sokoto Zonal Office, appreciated the coalition for collaborating with the commission toward addressing the prolonged challenges in financial transactions.

    He said that EFCC was in the state for development, adding that  its Special Control Unit of Money Laundering (SCUML). was established in 2005, to fight illicit financial transactions and other relevant financial crimes.

    “Since its establishment, the unit has cut across all sectors of the economy making sure that financial regulations were not truncated at whatever level of transaction,” he said.

    He urged the public to be cautious and watchful about financial transactions as well as remain very much vigilant on who were their associates.

    In his remarks, Alhaji Hassan Maccido, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, assured of the state government;s commitment to ensure financial prudence between NGOs and Donor Agencies.

    He charged the NGOs to seek for knowledge of their regulators on how they should operate and be subjected to registration.

    Maccido identified EFCC as one of the agencies of Federal Government that have continued to be respected following their commitment.

    “EFCC ahould stand firm to ensure that financial dealings are done lawfully based on Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022 and other financial regulations,” he yrged

    Earlier, the Guest Speaker Prof. Tukur Baba of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, tasked NGOs and CSOs to work together in ”checkmating government circle on how things were done.

    “Our challenges in Nigeria were based on number of illicit financial transactions and money laundering conspired by few among us.”

    Baba further urged NGOs not to be over dependent on Donor Agencies, saying, “You should rise to stand on your feet and independent. This is the only way to achieve your collective desired objectives.”

    The Coalition of Sokoto CSOs Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Shuni, said that the conference was in continuation of the EFCC week’s activities.

    He urged the participants to intensify efforts and increase their performances through capacity building of members on self regulatory framework of their group members. (NAN)

  • EFCC sensitises CSOs on financial crimes in Sokoto


    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sensitised Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Sokoto State on money laundering and illicit financial transactions in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised in collaboration with the Coalition of CSOs in yhe state to ensure that financial transactions were done in a decent and sanitised manner.

    In his address Mr Aliyu Hassan, the EFCC Director, Sokoto Zonal Office, appreciated the coalition for collaborating with the commission toward addressing the prolonged challenges in financial transactions.

    He said that EFCC was in the state for development, adding that  its Special Control Unit of Money Laundering (SCUML). was established in 2005, to fight illicit financial transactions and other relevant financial crimes.

    “Since its establishment, the unit has cut across all sectors of the economy making sure that financial regulations were not truncated at whatever level of transaction,” he said.

    He urged the public to be cautious and watchful about financial transactions as well as remain very much vigilant on who were their associates.

    In his remarks, Alhaji Hassan Maccido, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, assured of the state government;s commitment to ensure financial prudence between NGOs and Donor Agencies.

    He charged the NGOs to seek for knowledge of their regulators on how they should operate and be subjected to registration.

    Maccido identified EFCC as one of the agencies of Federal Government that have continued to be respected following their commitment.

    “EFCC ahould stand firm to ensure that financial dealings are done lawfully based on Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2022 and other financial regulations,” he yrged

    Earlier, the Guest Speaker Prof. Tukur Baba of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, tasked NGOs and CSOs to work together in ”checkmating government circle on how things were done.

    “Our challenges in Nigeria were based on number of illicit financial transactions and money laundering conspired by few among us.”

    Baba further urged NGOs not to be over dependent on Donor Agencies, saying, “You should rise to stand on your feet and independent. This is the only way to achieve your collective desired objectives.”

    The Coalition of Sokoto CSOs Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Shuni, said that the conference was in continuation of the EFCC week’s activities.

    He urged the participants to intensify efforts and increase their performances through capacity building of members on self regulatory framework of their group members. (NAN)

  • ASUU indefinite strike, a disaster to education- Stakeholders

    Reactions has continued to trail the recent comprehensive, total and indefinite strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Some stakeholders on Tuesday said that the recent announcement by ASUU on the indefinite strike was disheartening and a disaster to the education sector.

    A Parent, who preferred anonymity expressed worry over the latest development, while calling on the Federal Government to dialogue with the union so that students would return to school.

    “The roll over strike by ASUU potent disaster for Nigeria education, it’s a kind of nailing the coffin of education in Nigeria which is very sad.

    ” I think response to ASUU has been very lukewarm from the government side it’s like government is not keen to tertiary education anymore.

    ” If they are not, then they should reform the system to give it a new funding mechanism.

    ” If tertiary education is run smoothly in in Ghana, Liberia, Gambia and much poorer African countries, what is the problems here?,” he said.

    He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to learn from these countries on ways to fund tertiary education in the country.

    He also advised students not to loose focus but enroll in skills that would better their lives rather than getting involved in criminal activities that could destroy their lives

    ” I will rather advise students to learn new skills this period and in six months the could become a data analyst, working online and earning income for themselves.

    ” If parents are prepared to send their children to school, they should also be prepared to send their children to learn new skills and not just sitting at home because you don’t know how long this strike will take,” he said.

    Also, a Concerned Nigerian, Mr Kanayo Umeh, said the country would not develop more than the standard of its education, hence the need to take tertiary education more serious.

    Umeh said that the way forward to solving the problems was for government to have a honest conversation with the union.

    According to him, ASUU president had said that the union was ready to bring up concrete resolutions to the table if government was ready to play its card.

    ” The government must therefore shift ground based on the recent realities and not make promises they cannot keep to.

    ” This strike actions has affected a lot of Nigerian students especially Post Graduate Students who wants to obtain their transcript for further studies,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the Save Public Education Campaign, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) said that ASUU was forced to declare indefinite strike.

    The Co-coordinator of the organisation, Mrs Vivian Bello said that the organisation would continue to defend the 1999 constitution to guarantee the freedom of association.

    Bello called on government to meet ASUU demands without further delay or would mobilise Nigerians for a three-day mass protest in favour of ASUU.

    According to her, to us we find it complete ridiculous that despite huge amount of money the government has lost to corruption, the federal government couldn’t deem it important to meet ASUU demands.

    ” Under the 1999 Constitution, to ban ASUU, means that the Federal Government will attack the Chapter 4 of the constitution that guaranty freedom of association and assembly.

    “This also means that the government will withdraw its ratification of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to organise Convention No 87of the International Labour Organisation.

    “It portends danger to the Nigeria civil space because “In international law, ILO Conventions 87 and 98 recognise the right to recognise union and collective bargaining.

    ” Federal Government must immediately meet the agreements signed with ASUU. We call for unity of Nigerian students, workers and civil society groups to mobilise support for ASUU until their demands are made,” he said.

    She also said that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had led two days mass protests to force government to demand of ASUU so that student would resume.

    She called on the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to unite at this period to mobilise towards the three days general strike as they have promised.

    It would be recalled that ASUU had declared an indefinite strike on Aug. 29 after fruitless negotiation with the government.

    ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke had observed with regret that the union had experienced a lot of deceit at the highest level in the last five and half years, saying the federal government engaged ASUU in fruitless and unending negotiation without a display of utmost fidelity.

    Nigeria’s public universities have been on strike since February 14 as ASUU declared one month warning strike over unresolved issues with the federal government.

    A month after the lecturers withdrew their services, the non-teaching staff also commenced their own strike over some demands they claimed the government was unable to attend to.

    The three non-teaching staff unions in the university that downed tools are the Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

    While the three non-teaching staff unions have suspended their own strike after the government made some offers to them, ASUU has extended its own strike.

    Some of the contentious issues that led to the strike by the unions includes the non-release of revitalisation fund, non-payment of earned allowance (or earned academic allowance), renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement, and the release of white paper for visitation panel.

    Others are the non-payment of minimum wage arrears and the inconsistency occasioned by the use of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).