Owerri, Anambra State zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has lamented what it described as payment of same salary to its members for the past 15 years, just as it also expressed concerns that the union’s engagements with both Federal and various state governments on how to reposition public universities for national development, a sequel to the FGN-ASUU Agreement of 2009, have been jettisoned by the parties involved.
Owerri ASUU zonal coordinator, Dennis Aribodor, stated this during a press conference at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Tuesday, pointing out that both the administrations of former President Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have abandoned the main elements of the 2009 agreement and other lingering issues that led to the nationwide strike action of February to October 2022.
Flanked by other executive members of the zonal union, Aribodor also disclosed that academic staff in public universities has been on the same salary structure for 15 years.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to speedily put a final closure to the renegotiation by directing the upward review of academic staff emoluments in view of current economic realities and the signing of the draft agreement reached with the Nimi Briggs committee.
He said, “This press conference is intended to update Nigerians on developments since the suspension of our last national strike action on Friday, October 14, 2022, and our engagements with the current administration since its inception.
“ASUU is a patriotic organisation committed to national development and should be taken very seriously when she talks. The renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009 has dragged for seven years since 2017. The reluctance of the Federal Government to conclude the renegotiation is the reason why the government committee has had three chairmen from Wale Babalakin through Munzali Jibril to Nimi Briggs.
“This means that academic staff in our universities has been on the same salary structure for 15 years. We urge the President Tinubu administration to speedily put a final closure to the renegotiation by directing the upward review in view of current economic realities and signing of the draft agreement reached with the Nimi Briggs committee.
“The most obvious implication of the truncation of the renegotiation of the agreement is that university teachers in Nigeria have been on the same salary regime since 2009, when the value of the naira to the dollar was N120 as against N1,800 today. How do you expect to get the best from lecturers with this kind of development?
“We are worried that the pace of development is not what we expected. In public universities, lecturers are leaving in droves to other countries, even in Africa, and we don’t want that to continue. We want the President to tackle these issues to avoid a situation where the universities will continue to churn out half-baked graduates.
“Today, a professor at the university earns less than $300, how do you expect that professor to perform at his best? We are also calling on the Federal Government to make budgetary allocations to the education sector not less than 26 percent of the total annual budget. Education should not be commercialized because Nigerians are too poor.”
The lecturers also enthused that the signing of the Nimi Briggs Draft Agreement will be a concrete step towards restoring the dignity of academia and ensuring industrial harmony and peace on the country’s campuses.
The Owerri ASUU also accused the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Prof. Nnenna Oti, of “intimidation and victimisation” of its members over their rejection of the appointment of Dr Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami, as a professor in the institution.
ASUU said, “The attacks on committed ASUU members at FUTO came on the heels of the union’s principled stance against the illegal appointment of Dr Pantami, as a Professor in that university while not qualified for the position and while serving as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The VC whimsically stopped union leaders from attending statutory meetings of Senate and university committees. We note that statutory Senate meetings and other university committee meetings are outside the union roles of our union leaders.
“This clearly is an act of victimization. We reaffirm our support for NEC’s condemnation of the action of the FUTO administration and urge the FUTO VC to toe the path of honour and reverse the illegal appointment of Dr. Pantami.
“We call on the Minister of Education and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on FUTO VC, Prof. Oti, to respect the laws of FUTO and stop persecuting our members for insisting that the right thing should be done in that university.”
Other demands made by the ASUU members include the release of withheld salaries of some of its members, payment of arrears of earned academic allowances, reversal of illegal dissolution of university’s Governing Councils, the exit of exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, among other.
Owerri zone ASUU comprised of members from UNIZIK, Awka, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State University, Michael Okpara University, Umudike and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam.
The executive members of the unions from the various institutions that comprise the zone attended the press conference.
