as NASS moves to save Nigeria’s foreign
missions
By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke
ABUJA—THE National Assembly has concluded
plans to rescue the nation’s embassies across
the world by increasing the N14.6 billion
provided for the missions in the 2016 virement
requested by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This came as indications emerged yesterday
that the Senate and representatives of the
nation’s university lecturers, under the aegis of
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,
may resume talks today in a bid to forestall
the proposed nationwide indefinite strike by
the latter.
A source told Vanguard that with the action,
the missions would then have sufficient funds
to operate successfully and give quality
representation to Nigeria’s interest in the
countries they were domiciled.
The decision was taken at the joint meeting of
the Appropriation Committees of both
chambers with the executive during the
virement review exercise, just as the
legislators believed that the embassies should
be well funded, so they could hold their own
against other foreign missions in their
countries of assignments to properly represent
the nation’s interests.
A source who was privy to the discussions at
National Assembly leadership meeting, said:
“During our discussion, we agreed that our
embassies are public relations centres for the
nation. They shape international perception of
our country.
‘’Now that we are trying to attract investors
and build investors’ confidence in our
economy, our embassies must be put in a pole
position to coordinate the efforts at the
foreign level to revive our economy.
‘’They must be well-funded and well-managed
to confidently provide prompt, efficient and
good services for intending visitors to our
country.
“We also expect our embassies to be more
pro-active in serving our fellow country people
resident in their various countries of domicile,
co-ordinate how we market Nigeria to the
international community and attract the right
attention to our country.
“The National Assembly is set to ensure that
our foreign missions are properly managed and
well focussed to be key centres in reviving the
economy, enhancing Nigeria’s image abroad
and helping the country to claim its rightful
place in the international community.
‘’We will relate with the Ministries of Foreign
Affairs and Trade and Investment to ensure
the embassies have new mandates and fulfil
them.”
Meanwhile, there are indications that the
Senate and representatives of Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU, may resume talks
today to stave off the proposed indefinite
strike nationwide by the latter.
The indication came when the Chairman,
Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and
TETFUND, Jibrin Barau, disclosed yesterday,
that the adhoc sub-committee set up by the
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the
ASUU/Federal Government delegations might
reconvene tomorrow to sort out the only
outstanding issue yet to be agreed upon by
the university lecturers and government
representatives.
Barau, who is also the head of the Senate
Intervention Subcommittee mediating between
ASUU and the Federal Government, noted that
Senate had made tremendous progress in its
intervention to prevent the proposed strike,
having reached agreement on five of the six
key issues raised by ASUU.
Speaking to reporters at the National
Assembly on the outcome of the
subcommittee’s meeting with the ASUU and
Federal Government’s delegation on Monday,
Barau said: “We had about six issues and all
of them were very well discussed. We
deliberated and agreed on all of them except
one, and that one has to do with the earned
allowances.
“Now, they ASUU are asking for about
N62billion. Initially, N30billion was given to the
universities in 2013 and the agreement as
signed between the Federal Government and
the ASUU clearly specifies that upon the
receipt of any payment, before any new
payment is made, the last payment has to be
accounted for.
“The Implementation Monitoring Committee
(IMC) clearly wrote in one of its letters to the
Ministry of Education that it is not satisfied
with the level of accountability on the
N30billion.
“So, a letter was sent to the Ministry of
Finance since March that the forensic audit to
account for that money has not been done.
They said no other further disbursement can
be made except the money that was given is
accounted for as clearly spelt out in the
agreement.
“We then said, wait, the fact that the forensic
audit was not carried out was not the fault of
ASUU. So we then agreed that for the exercise
to be conducted, it was estimated by experts
that it would take six months to conclude the
exercise.
“Then we said look, it will be unfair to ask
ASUU to wait without being paid while the
exercise is being carried out. We said ASUU
should be paid N1billion every month while the
forensic audit exercise is being carried out.
“ASUU said they will not take N1billion. We
now asked ASUU to accept N1.5billion while
the exercise is being concluded. ASUU said
they will go back and consult with their
members and that they are going to get back
to us
“Therefore, we are waiting for ASUU to get
back to us but definitely the meeting may take
place on Thursday so that we can thrash out
the only one remaining issue, since we don’t
have the luxury of time on our side. The
Senate wants all contending issues to be
resolved within the shortest time possible so
as to keep the academic calendar running
smoothly in all our universities,” he said.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/senate-cttee-ASUU-may-resume-talks-tomorrow/
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