The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) branches across 53 Federal universities are currently mobilising their members to prepare for another showdown with the Federal Government......Read The Full Article>>.....Read The Full Article>>
They have asked the Federal Government to address the lingering issues affecting universities to avoid another disruption of academic activities on campuses.
Recall that the warning is coming on the heels of the ongoing battle between FG and the labour unions over a new minimum wage.
ASUU’s Demands
Prof. Adelaja Odukoya, the Zonal Coordinator, Lagos, during a press conference held by the zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, on Friday, June 21, 2024, listed the demands of the union:
A. Refusal To Sign And Implement Renegotiated Agreement
The deliberate refusal of the Tinubu-led Federal Government to sign and implement the concluded renegotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement is a criminal violation of the Collective Bargaining principles as enshrined in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.
The renegotiated agreement was concluded in 2021 after five years of renegotiation. Both the Government and ASUU committed massive resources, hoping to reverse the dwindling fortune of our universities as the apex agency for human capacity development. With the deliberate refusal of the Federal Government to sign and implement the renegotiated agreement, our members have been stretched beyond their elastic limit of patience and our union urges the Tinubu-led Federal Government to without further delay, set in motion machinery for the immediate signing and implementation of the renegotiated agreement.
B. Funding and proliferation of State and Federal Universities
For the umpteenth time, our union again calls the attention of the public to the insincere proliferation and mushrooming of universities by both the Federal Government and Visitors to State Universities. The most disturbing aspect of this anomaly is that while most governments at the Federal and state levels have not been adequately funding existing universities (inadequate subventions; non-release of monthly subventions; irregular-payment of staff salaries; decayed and dilapidated infrastructures, non-payment/release of check-off and other third-party deductions etc.), visitors of Federal and State universities have turned establishment of universities to constituency projects.
This development is harmful, retrogressive and unacceptable. Our Union, hereby, calls for the review and strengthening of the NUC laws to arrest the negative trends.
C. Non-payment of Withheld Salaries and Arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA)
Comrades and compatriots of the press, it is no longer news that the Federal Government is still holding on to three and a half months’ salaries of our members in the face of the government intransigence which necessitated the last strike action on the one hand and the current excruciating economic challenges confronting the nation on the other. In addition, the arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) since 2020 are still outstanding.
“Our Union unequivocally condemns this callous, unprogressive, destructive, anti-labour and inhuman act and demands the unconditional payment of all withheld salaries and arrears of EAA of our members.
D. Injurious Downside of the Discredited Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS)
“Our union’s unequivocally rejection of the IPPIS as a monster and an ill wind that would blow the Nigerian university system no good has become part of our history. Our stance and foresight had since been vindicated. We still insist that IPPIS is a cesspit of centralised corruption by government officials forcefully imposed and foisted on the Nigerian State by Breton Woods institutions of IMF and World Bank.
“Even with Government pronouncement on the exit of the universities from IPPIS, the deliberate refusal of corrupt Government and Ministry officials to migrate the University Payroll System away from IPPIS is unfortunate, condemnable and a confirmation that Nigeria is a becoming lawless State. It confirms that certain beneficial elements within the government and their collaborators are bent on continuing to defraud our members and the universities. Rather than implement the decision of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the removal of Universities from IPPIS stranglehold as broadcasted to the nation, our members are still being paid by the same platform dubiously renamed “New IPPIS”. ASUU would continue to patriotically oppose the corruption-ridden IPPIS in whatever form because of its affront to our university autonomy.
E. Emanating from this stranglehold, the arrears of promotion since 2018 remain unpaid; non-remittance of third-party deductions such as pension deductions, cooperative deductions and Union check-off dues are wickedly and arbitrarily withheld. Our Union demands that all withheld deductions; unpaid promotion arrears; unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, adjunct, etc. be paid in the interest of peace in the Nigerian University System.
Our Union therefore, once again as part of her intellectual contribution to national development offers the immediate adoption by the Federal Government of the more economical, robust and efficient University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to replace the illegal, widely rejected and corruption-infested IPPIS.
ASUU Intensifies Mobilisation in Varsities
At Federal University, Gashua branch in Yobe State, the union at the end of its meeting asked the Federal Government to address the lingering issues affecting universities to avoid another disruption of academic activities on campuses.
The Chairman of the branch, Melemi Abatcha, and his members who addressed journalists at Damaturu the state capital outlined funding for the revitalisation of Nigerian public universities, and the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement among the major issues.
Melemi who also corroborated the issues above as the union’s grouse with the Federal government said the backlog of Earned Academic Allowances amounted to N50 bn, and the withheld three and half months’ salaries of its members across the country.
He also explained that the removal of fuel subsidies without credible alternatives has brought untold hardship on the people, adding that it would not want to compound it with yet another disruption of academic activities.
The union also called on the FG to show sensitivity to the plight of Nigerians by speedily agreeing and implementing an acceptable living wage for Nigerian workers to assuage their sufferings.
NANS Appeals To Lecturers, FG To Shift Ground
The apex body of students in Nigeria, the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has appealed to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of the University (ASUU) to reach common grounds to prevent disruption in the academic calendar.
The NANS Senate President, Mr. Henry Okunomo, the association is appealing to the Federal Government to take immediate and decisive action to prevent disruption in the educational sector by preventing any strike.
He also urged President Bola Tinubu to allocate sufficient resources to the educational sector to improve infrastructure, provide necessary teaching aids, and ensure timely payment of salaries and benefits to lecturers.
He said that establishing a continuous platform for dialogue between the government, university administrators and lecturers to address grievances before escalation was important to prevent academic disruption.
“We are all acutely aware of the recurring disruptions caused by strikes in our universities. These strikes, often as a result of unresolved issues between university lecturers and the government, have profound and far-reaching consequences on the educational journey of countless students.
“We appeal to our lecturers to also embrace dialogue and shift ground where necessary to avoid collapse of the education system,” he said.
