The union adopted a resolution to go on strike after its ASUU-NEC meeting at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, from Sunday till yesterday. Read more
Fifty-one of the union’s 53 branches unanimously agreed to embark on the strike.
The action, The Nation learnt, followed the default by the Federal Government to honour the Academic Earned Allowance (AEA) which formed a component of the 2009 agreement the government signed with the union.
Declaring the strike, ASUU Chairman at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) chapter, Dr Karo Ogbinaka, told reporters yesterday that the strike was a “painful yet inevitable decision”.
He said ASUU was tired of the government’s inconsistency, adding that the union could no longer tolerate the insults.
Throwing more light on the AEA, Ogbinaka said it includes allowances paid as part of excess work load responsibility allowance and the allowance for supervision of post-graduate programmes, for lecturers, heads of departments (HoDs), deans, examination officers, among others.
He said the highest AEA is N12,500 per month, wondering why it was difficult for the government to live up to its promises.
Ogbinaka recalled that following the 2009 agreement, the Federal Government entered into an MoU with the ASUU and other academic bodies.
The union leader said after negotiation, the government agreed to also support tertiary education with N100.billion.
He added: “Later, the government came out to say N100 billion was too much and might cause inflation. We again came down to N80 billion. But to our surprise, the Minister of Education and the NUC told us that the money was not included in the budget. Later, they promised it will be included in the supplementary budget.
“But later, the government said it could only pay 50 per cent of the N80 billion, which is about one quarter of the total amount. To complicate matter, the government said it would pay only one-off while universities would then continue to pay the rest.
“We felt this is a betrayal of the agreement and this is what forced us to convene this NEC meeting where 51 of our 53 branches nationwide unanimously agreed that the strike is the only solution.”
ASUU National President, Dr Nasir Isa, told our reporter on phone that since 2009, no academic staff has been paid the allowance.
He said ASUU has made several moves, including a warning strike but government remains adamant.
Dr Nasir added that universities are meant to be universal in nature, noting that Nigerian universities appear to be an exception owing to poor funding and lack of standards.
Nasir said Responsibility Allowance ASUU negotiated with government is N12 per month, while supervision of PhD is N15 monthly.
“The Federal Government initially felt we exaggerated the level of decay in the universities until it set up the NEEDS Assessment committee last year which visited some of our universities nationwide and saw the embarrassing sight of some of our infrastructures.
“From 2007 when the MoU was reached till date, government has not paid any allowance on masters or PhD programmes. That is why our professors are reluctant to supervise masters or PhD thesis. Aside Academic Earned Allowance will attract many foreign students and lecturers here. This is one of the reasons why we do not have academic scholars from overseas.”
Culled from The Nation newspaper
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