Posted by If the federal government does not pay the salaries that have been withheld from public university professors, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vowed to go on strike.
In a Thursday interview shown on Channels Television, ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke revealed this.
Osodeke argued that it is unjust for the federal government to pay professors four months’ worth of their delayed salary for 2022 while keeping three and a half months’ worth of salaries.
What matters is not paying four months’ worth of the seven and a half months’ wages that were withheld, he stated.
He claims that the country’s public universities should be compensated for the job they did during their 2022 strike.
At the moment, all of Nigeria’s universities are operating under the 2023–2024 academic year. However, in the fall of 2023 or early October, this will change to the 2024–2025 academic year.
We have made sacrifices to make up for the labor we were not compensated for while on strike, according to this.
In the previous three or four years, not a single one of our members has taken a vacation. We skipped vacation to make up for the work we missed during the strike, which we have already finished. To verify, simply consult the pupils.
“I don’t believe you are being fair to us when you said you are paying four out of seven and a half,”
The head of ASUU said on May 13, 2024, that the government been served a two-week ultimatum.
Relevant News According to ASUU, Nigeria’s education budget is the lowest in West Africa.
Please, Tinubu, sign and execute the renegotiated 2009 agreements of the Nimi-Briggs committee.
ASUU demanded that the FG uphold the deal
He insisted that all ASUU members should get full pay throughout the 2022 strike.
He went on to say that lecturers have not benefited from the Tinubu administration’s decision to pay them four of the eight months’ worth of wages that had been withheld.
Osodeke stated that the payment of billions to university employees shouldn’t be an issue if the federal government can grant road contracts worth trillions.
“We would prefer not to hear the words ‘we don’t have money.'” This is due to the fact that all of Nigeria’s universities could be funded with just ₦200 billion, but a government could pay ₦15 or ₦13 trillion naira to build a road. It is only fair that we receive funding from the government if they are able to use it for road construction.
After finishing the job, please pay the three and a half months’ salary that is still withheld. He threatened to bring up the “no pay, no work” principle if they didn’t pay them after they finished the job.
The president of ASUU expressed regret that many professors are leaving the nation due to low pay. There is still a $300 salary for a lecturer. “When we negotiated the agreement in 2009, it was $1500,” he stated.
According to the president of ASUU, the idea of a university without an effective Governing Council is inconceivable.
In the eleven months after the National Universities Commission (NUC) disbanded the Governing Councils of all federal universities in response to a decree from President Tinubu, he claimed that numerous universities had engaged in illegal recruitment and contracts.
Osodeke made the following statement: “Nobody anticipated that we will have a university that will run for two weeks without a Governing Council. However, all of Nigeria’s universities have been operating without Governing Councils for the past eleven months. This means that all the actions taken in terms of employment, contract awards and what have you have passed through illegal process.”
He asserted that forming a Governing Council did not require eleven months and went on to say that no institution in the world functions without one.
According to the ASUU president, each university council has six government representatives and around ten or eleven elected university representatives who serve four-year terms.
He went on to say that the government cannot just abolish the councils because the number of members at every given university is significantly higher than the number of government representatives.
“We have proof of recruitment and of the unlawful awarding of contracts. We have given this two-week ultimatum because we should not be involved in illegality. If this illegality and all other issues are not resolved by the end of the two weeks, our union will convene a meeting to discuss the matter and choose the next steps.
As far as Osodeke is aware, ASUU has not formally met with any branches of the current administration. The reason we have exhausted all other options, he explained, is that we must take this action.
“The negotiated agreement that began in 2017 needs to be finalized, the Governing Councils should be reestablished, and the earned academic allowances that are due should be paid,” he stated as his final opinion.
You may remember that in 2022, unions representing both academics and non-academics in Nigeria went on an eight-month strike to demand improved benefits among other things.
Following this, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari imposed a “no work, no pay policy” on the unions; however, President Bola Tinubu eventually authorized the release of four of the approximately eight months’ worth of payments that had been delayed in October 2023.
In contrast to the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), ASUU members received four months’ worth of their withheld salary.
Nonetheless, in March, when Education Minister Tahir Mamman stated that the government might contemplate half pay for the two non-academic unions, they went on strike.