President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Chris Piwuna has insisted that the 2009 agreement with the Federal Government was duly signed during the administration of late President Musa Yar’Adua.
Piwuna who stated this during an interview on Arise News Thursday night, accused the Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa of being economical with the truth.
TheFact Daily recalls that the Minister had said the government never signed any agreement with ASUU, adding that the much referenced agreement was a mere draft.
“Let me clear this: the Solicitor-General looked into the agreement and confirmed that government has never signed any agreement with ASUU. This was a draft. The 2021 agreement was not executed by government.
“ASUU may have the impression that they have an agreement with us, but truthfully, no such agreement was signed”, he said.
Prof. Piwuna however countered the Minister’s claims:
“We had an agreement with late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2009 and that agreement was signed….. It was during this regime that the 2009 agreement was signed. It was signed with our (ASUU) President, Prof. (Aloysius) Awuzie,” he said.
He further clarified that while subsequent attempts at renegotiation were not finalised, the original 2009 agreement remained a legal document.
He pointed out that the agreement had legal backing, citing the amendment of the retirement age for university lecturers from 65 to 70 years by the National Assembly as part of its implementation.
“We have a copy of the signed agreement. The government itself has a copy of the signed agreement. NUC has that document. The Federal Ministry of Education has that document. Everybody who is concerned has that agreement. Salaries and Wages Commission has that document, former Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige, also has it”, he said
He also explained that, negotiations held with different government-appointed committees—chaired by Wale Babalakin (SAN), Prof. Musa Jubril, and the late Prof. Mimi Briggs—produced draft agreements, but none invalidated the signed 2009 pact.
“So, if the Minister is referring to the documents we had with Prof. Musa Jubril, Prof. Mimi Briggs, and now with Yayale Ahmed, yes, those were not signed. But it would be incorrect for anyone to say we never had any agreement with the government,” he explained.
