Comrade Samson Ugwuoke emerged the National President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) at the union’s second Triennial Delegate Conference held recently at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He spoke with journalists about his election and other issues. MOSES JOHN was there. Excerpts:
You have just emerged national president of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), how will you react to your election?
As I have said before now, I pursue a divine project, that the Vision 2011 which was a roadmap for the consolidation and up-lift of SSANU to the next level was a divine project. I didn’t just decide to become the national president of SSANU; I had already prepared myself for the job. I use this opportunity to thank SSANU delegates for considering me fit and reposing their confidence in me by voting en-mass for me. If you watch the statistics, it was a landmark victory, 197 votes against 91, 40 and 6.
At the same time, one thing is to win election and another thing is to sustain the position. What might have actually endeared them to me is my manifesto. I was the first candidate to present a manifesto about seven months before the election. My manifesto came out in December last year and others brought their own two days before the election. I was prepared, I travelled round most of the universities in the country, campaigning, selling Vision 2011 to them, selling my manifesto to them, asking them to buy into the campaign. The name of my campaign organisation was Integrity Group, I believe in integrity and this they demonstrated during the election. I thank God that at the end of traversing the country, he granted me? safety and made people to see my vision for the union, bought into it and also demonstrated their acceptance by voting en-mass for me.
What is the starting point for you, your vision and your plan for the union?
For now, I will start with the secretariat. I have to reorganise the secretariat to meet the standard, to be proactive and productive in order to be able to meet my manifesto requirements. The staffing has to be looked into, there are certain departments that I need to introduce. I need to introduce the investment unit which will take care of businesses and it has to be headed by somebody that is versatile in business. There are a lot of businesses out there looking for people to catch up with and I believe that levies and dues should not be the only revenue to SSANU.
The other aspect is to bring on board what we normally call NLC Mobilisation and Organisation Department, because the next step I will take is to mobilise and unionise the private university sector. That department will be truly responsible for that assignment. All these I am saying have not been in place; they are new introductions via my manifesto.
?I also need to get everybody, all the members of the National Executive Council linked to the internet; that will reduce clamour and waste of time during NEC meetings because in a situation where you get minutes of previous meeting three weeks before the meeting, you download and go through, and then make your comments; a feedback to the secretariat, will form the basis of our agenda. These are new innovations I want to introduce.
Again, the issue of a new secretariat is a serious matter, because there are other incentives and materials needed to run the secretariat, especially my own office. There must be a connection between the secretariat and myself wherever I am, so that I can always respond to issues and then the secretariat will take action based on the directive taken from me. All these are what I am going to do in the short run. I need to visit the zones too. If I claim to be ignorant of certain problems that emanated or occur during the election, I think I am not saying the truth. People have camps and now that the election is over, I am the president of all; I have to reconcile all the factions, bring them together because I want a strong united SSANU family.? That is my first step into getting our people together to get them making their contributions in supportive of my administration which a lot of them have pledged their loyalty through text messages, through phone calls, through letters, through e-mails messages. I will attend the first meetings of all the zones, I will have opportunity to speak to each of the zones and tell them how I want to take off. I want to get the zones and the branches to follow the speed of my running the union.
What are your plans for the new secretariat?
We have to move our secretariat away from Gwagwalada. I need to look for a land within the main metropolis, where we can build a good edifice that befits SSANU as a union and also have business outfit round it that can generate fund for SSANU. I want to set up what we call SSANU Cooperative Investment Limited, I will register this, and I will also want to register more NGOs to take care of problems of staff within the university. They will have their offices within the secretariat. I want to tackle the issue of scarce resources by using that investment outfit.? I have a lot of ideas and I need somebody that is vibrant and have the business acumen to run that outfit to meet my aspiration and deliver to SSANU, the intended reasons for setting it up so that we can move forward.
You spoke of professionals running the affairs of the union, what do you mean by this?
I promise to run the administration by committee system. For instance we will have Finance Committee, Education and Training Committee under Education Department, our SHARP Committee which is an NGO is already on ground. We have to restructure its board to make it productive and responsive to the needs, aims and aspiration of SSANU when we were setting it up. But in doing all these, I must apply professionalism to put a square peg in square hole and a round peg in round hole. If I am appointing you as a member it will not be because you are from Northern Zone, you are from Southern, Western or Eastern Zone, or that you assisted me during election. I am serious about it, and thank God that we have crops of intelligent professionals within SSANU.
There has been this struggle over retirement age and monetisation what is the position now?
We have already threatened to go on strike under the auspice of JAC, an understanding between SSANU, NASU and NAAT. We are the people that are concerned, whose documents were removed while the bill was being sent to Senate. We have approached and had discussions with the federal government, under my immediate predecessor. We had held meetings with all the team set up. We have held meeting with the federal government team headed by the secretary to the government of the federation and government had given us their words that within a month or two they will reverse it.
The bill is an Executive Bill, that must emanate from the government to the National Assembly and we have told government, and the president himself that he should not assent to that bill as passed by the Senate until our own 65 years retirement age is included. I was the former National Financial Secretary so I have been in the National Administrative Committee since 2004 until I became president on July 29 this year, so I know all the development and I will stand by that. The 65 years is not questionable, we must get it, government must give it to our members, we deserve it. Not only us but other people in the university sector as we have already joined NAAT and NASU. Certainly, government will do that to avert crisis in the university.
Government has signed an agreement with the organised labour on the issue of minimum wage, but don’t you think it will be difficult for the State and local governments to enforce?
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There is nothing difficult about it, as far as I am concerned Nigeria is rich. I agree that the government in Libya for instance, being military base has not given the people freedom and that is the only thing they are complaining of. But in terms of provision of social amenities in line with human right resolution of the United Nations, there is no man in Libya that is not living above the UN poverty level and they have water, they have houses, they have electricity, they have roads, the man there has provided them with all these from oil.
Nigeria has oil, but remember that Libya is a desert area, while Nigeria is blessed with good agricultural climate, rich soil that has resources here and there, therefore, nobody can talk of poverty. If you watched the Federal Allocation to states and local governments, and see how the money are being carted away, I can’t say mismanaged. If we have true democratic setting, people who are elected on merit, people who have the interest of Nigeria at hearth, nobody should be talking of a Nigerian having a minimum wage of N18, 000. It is not an issue. However, labour has pushed government to the extent of signing it, it is now a law, and so government cannot make a law and also disobey the law.
The issue as it stands now is for government to obey the law. If the local government has a case, they should have presented their case while the bill was going at the National Assembly, even before or after it was passed because it took time for the president to assent into it. So if they have cases they would have made their cases, not after it has been signed and became a law. Labour will not listen to any local or state government on the issue of minimum wage. The issue of minimum wage is a law and must be obeyed by all.
As an affiliate of NLC, how do you intend to place SSANU within the fold of the NLC?
NLC recognises SSANU as a very strong and contributing union in terms of service delivery to the umbrella union. The immediate past National President of SSANU, who is the Deputy President of NLC has made serious contributions to the development of NLC within the short period he was there. In terms of my leadership I intend to continue from where he stopped. I will give him every support as a NAC and NEC member of the NLC. On my own? and those who will go with me as NEC members of the NLC, we will get ourselves prepared to offer quality contributions to the NLC. It is also my intention to boost our financial contribution to the NLC to uplift our status.
In the last NLC delegate conference we had 18 delegates, by next election, it is my intention to double or triple that number and that is by way of financial contribution to the NLC.? Despite our small delegates, we still emerged as the number one deputy president considering the number of votes scored.
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