The umbrella body of Nigerian University teachers has said that none of its members have been paid two months after President Bola Tinubu approved the release of withheld four months’ salaries for lecturers.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU is a Nigerian union of university academic staff, founded in 1978.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, a professor of soil science, said most of its demands that the Nigerian government claimed to have met are yet to be implemented.
Mr Osodeke disclosed this on Tuesday’s Breakfast Show of News Central TV Africa.
President Tinubu had in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight months’ withheld salaries of the workers.
The salaries were withheld when the immediate past government of Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against some university-based unions that embarked on a strike that lasted eight months in 2022.
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman recently said the government has increased the university workers’ salaries by 35 percent.
The minister also said the government has granted autonomy to the universities by removing them from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
He added that the universities no longer need a waiver to recruit and fill their vacancies.
Mr Mamman said these resolutions were reached through informal consultations with the unions based in the tertiary institutions,
The ASUU President confirmed that the union had met with the Minister of Education and agreed on certain terms.
But he said most of its demands are yet to be implemented by the government.
Regarding the 35 percent increment, Mr Osodeke said the 35 percent increase only applies to senior professors. He said the increment for other workers in higher institutions is 25 percent.
“No money has been paid to the union since its announcement. We only heard that it has been approved but we are yet to receive anything,” he said on News Central Africa’s Breakfast Show on Tuesday.
Osodeke said the University teachers only heard that salaries had been approved, but there is no documentation between the union and the government for references to support the claims.
On the issue of removal from the IPPIS and granting of autonomy, Osodeke said the Tinubu government is only trying to obey the law in the constitution.
‘In the Universities Miscellaneous Act of 2018, the law should be referred to. It stated that the university governing council has the freedom to perform its functions without external interference,” he said.
Prof. Osodeke also spoke about the percentage of the Nigerian 2024 Budget set aside for education. He said the budgetary allocation was inadequate. Osodeke, said, “The government should increase the budgetary allocation to education, a little more will make an impact
Prof. Osodeke explained that during the campaign and election earlier last year, then-candidate Bola Tinubu promised to increase the Education sector to at least 15 percent or over if elected into office.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation recommended for member states, a 26 percent benchmark allocation for the education sector.
Professor Osodeko complained that Nigeria was the country with the least remuneration for professors, globally.
