The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to strike if the Federal Government fails to pay public university lecturers their withheld salaries.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this in an interview on Channels Television on Thursday. Osodeke criticized the Federal Government for paying only four months of the 2022 withheld salaries while withholding salaries for the remaining three-and-a-half months.
“It’s not about paying four months out of the seven-and-a-half months’ withheld salaries,” Osodeke said. He emphasized that public universities have covered the work from the period they were on strike in 2022 and should be compensated accordingly.
“All the work for which we were not paid during the strike has been completed by making sacrifices. None of our members have gone on leave in the past three to four years. We have not gone on vacation so that we can cover the work that we didn’t do while on strike,” he added.
ASUU has given the government a two-week ultimatum starting from May 13, 2024, demanding full payment for the entire period of the 2022 industrial action. Osodeke also mentioned that despite the Tinubu administration clearing four of the withheld months, this action does not suffice, especially when the government is capable of awarding large road contracts worth trillions of naira.
“We don’t want to hear ‘we don’t have money’ because if the government can award a contract of ₦15 or ₦13 trillion naira for road construction, then ₦200bn for Nigerian universities should not be a problem. Pay the three-and-a-half months’ salaries that are still being withheld,” Osodeke stated.
The ASUU president also highlighted the issue of lecturers leaving the country due to poor remuneration, noting that a lecturer now earns about $300 compared to $1500 in 2009.
Additionally, Osodeke criticized the absence of functional Governing Councils in federal universities, resulting in illegal contracts and recruitments. He urged the government to reinstate the dissolved councils and address other outstanding issues, including the conclusion of negotiations that started in 2017 and the payment of owed academic allowances.
The 2022 strike by academic and non-academic unions in Nigeria lasted eight months, demanding better welfare packages. The Buhari administration responded with a ‘no work, no pay’ policy. However, in October 2023, President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four months of the withheld salaries for ASUU members, but non-academic unions like SSANU and NASU were not paid. The Education Minister, Tahir Mamman, suggested the government might consider half pay for these unions.
ASUU’s ultimatum to the government underscores the ongoing tension and unresolved issues between university lecturers and the Federal Government.
This article is sourced from The Vanguard newspaper, with minor edits and adaptations by The Spectacles for clarity and readability.
