The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and other tertiary education institutions are currently on strike. The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to expedite the process of resolving this dispute.
Since several months ago, all tertiary education-related operations in Nigeria have been put on hold due to strikes by ASUU, NASU, and other institutions.
The request was made by the Committee’s Chairman, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, in Abuja at the official unveiling of the Intellectual Property Policy Document for Universities.
“We plead that drastic action is taken to stem the hemorrhage that the system is currently witnessing. For the sake of our children and our society, we need the decision,” he said.
Edoumiekumo highlighted that the policy paper had gone through six phases of preparation and complies with the World Intellectual Property Organizations (WIPO) model on the establishment of intellectual property policy during his speech on its launch.
“Intellectual property became the focal point of the deliberation given its essential role in the academic operations of universities in particular and the principal role of ideas in a knowledge-driven economy and society”.
According to him, “over the years, there have been several attempts by the Copyright Commission, which is the regulatory body, to ensure that academic institutions properly codify their intellectual property policies to conform with the World Intellectual Property format”.
“The CVCNU recognized this as a significant venture and worked with the NCC to develop a model intellectual property policy upon which universities that do not currently have one can build.
“The model policy document contains clauses that clearly state the ownership of ideas and inventions that are developed with resources from the universities and the rights of use,” he said.
Incentives, rewards, and payments for intellectual property that result from its commercialization are all addressed in the treaty, he said, adding that this document makes these matters clear.
“It advises on how to maintain IP assets and resolve conflicts of interests, conflicts of commitments, and other disputes. A vital part of the draft document is how to accommodate the Expression of Folklore, Traditional Knowledge, and Genetic Resources in our IP policy document.
“Following today’s presentation, we expect our universities to develop their policies based on their particular operating environment and upload their final Senate-approved copies of the WIPO portal for global access.
“The CVCNU will track this development and constantly report to its members’ and stakeholders’ progress in this regard,” he said.
Since February 14th, 2022, ASUU has been on strike, alleging a number of requests that the FG has not complied with as justification. Paying wage arrears, improving working conditions, renegotiating the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement, paying earned academic allowances, raising money for the revival of public universities, paying promotion arrears, and inadequate funding of state universities are some of the demands.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists are among the other tertiary institution unions that are also on strike (NAAT).
On June 22, SSANU and NASU declared a two-month extension of their strike, adding that it will terminate whenever the Federal Government complied with members’ requests.
The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), which declared the start of a one-month strike beginning on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, is another tertiary education institution now on strike.
