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Tag: ASUU

  • Slash lawmakers’ salary by 50% to meet ASUU’s demands – Ndume

    Slash lawmakers’ salary by 50% to meet ASUU’s demands – Ndume

    Sen. Ali Ndume (APC-Borno South) has called for a reasonable slash in the salaries of the national assembly by half to allocate it to the Academic Staff Union of Universities,(ASUU) in order to meet their pressing demands.

    Ndume made the call while reacting to the alleges half pay for the academic staff in Maiduguri on Thursday.

    Ndume, a former Senate Leader, advised the federal government to constitute a high powered standing committee of respected educationist and patriotic Nigerians to meet with the ASUU leadership to address lingering burning issues.

    “Even if it means that the National Assembly will reduce sitting allowances or be paid on casual allowances basis whenever they sit at the Lower and upper chambers, by cutting the recurrent expenditure in the budget of the federal lawmakers to settle the ASUU arrears, let it be. It will be in the overall national interest of Nigerians

    “We only assemble twice or so per week and get paid as such.

    “Civil servants who worked from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and were paid their full salaries and allowances monthly.

    “So why will the federal government cut university lecturers salaries because they went on legitimate strike action in which, constitutionally, they are fighting for their rights and privileges.

    “As a matter of priority and as a public servant in the legislative chambers, we don’t work; so why don’t you just give us half salary and then pay ASUU.

    “It is high time they resolve the issue once and for all even if they have to borrow or make supplementary budgets.

    “We are budgeting 20.5 trillion for 2023, I don’t see any reason why the government will not budget one trillion to address the lingering challenges of the education sector including ASUU strikes.

    “Eight months, student were at home doing nothing and they are the public and we are the public servants. In the budget of 2023, the over head is 43 per cent.

    “If you can spend N8.3trillion on public servants why don’t you spend N1trillion in public universities.

    “Some of those involved in the negotiations do not have children in public universities.

    “How can you be talking about something that you have no stake in? I don’t have a child in public schools, all my children are schooling outside the country; most politicians are like that too and they are the once negotiating.

    “With this to me, we will not get any where. Even if we got somewhere it will be temporary because other people will be playing to the gallery.

    “Some of them will be claiming to be defending the interest of the federal government and the others will be pretending to be defending the interest of the masses and at the end they are only playing to the gallery,”he said.

  • UniJos ASUU suspends sit-at-home order, resumes teaching

    UniJos ASUU suspends sit-at-home order, resumes teaching

    The University of Jos chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended the sit-at-home order earlier issued and directed its members to resume teaching.

    Associate Prof. Lazarus Maigoro,  the Chairman of ASUU in the university announced this in a statement on Thursday in Jos.

    Recall that the union in the university had, after its congress on Nov. 4, asked its members to quit teaching over their withheld salaries.

    Maigoro, who said the chapter’s decision was subject to the decision of its national body, announced it had suspended the earlier directives.

    ”After receiving briefing at our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of Nov. 7, our members resolved to vacate the sit or work from home decision.

    “We also reaffirm our commitment in the ability of our principal officers to handle the matter appropriately.

    “This implies that our members are fully back to work on campus,” Maigoro said.

  • ASUU: Falana speaks on Federal Government’s ‘no work, no pay’ policy

    ASUU: Falana speaks on Federal Government’s ‘no work, no pay’ policy

    Senior lawyer,  Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the Federal Government not to provoke the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) following the half payment they received for October whilst still withholding about eight months salaries.

    The human rights activist mentioned this while appearing on Channels TV’s politics today on Tuesday night.

    He asked the FG to pay lecturers the withheld salaries, saying that’s the right thing to do.

    Recall that ASUU embarked on eight-month academic strike action starting from February 14 till October 14 making it exactly eight months that the strike lasted.

    ASUU called off their eight-month strike on Oct. 14 after the National Industrial Court (NIC) ordered the lecturers to resume.

    However, the Federal Government paid half-salaries for the month of Oct. to the surprise of  ASUU.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Government  explained that the lecturers were paid based on the days they worked in the stated month.

    But speaking on the development, Falana, a counsel to ASUU, said on Tuesday, “The doctrine of ‘no work, no pay’ is totally inapplicable to ASUU members.

    “We are asking all Nigerians who mounted pressure on ASUU to call off the strike ,all of us have a duty to prevail on the government to stop provoking the lecturers.”

    Reports say that the FG is planning to pay members of CONUA their salary arrears creating an impression that they didn’t join ASUU to observe the eight months strike.

    Meanwhile, speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila is still intervening on the matter and assured something will be done about it.

  • Gbajabiamila clarifies ASUU half salary payment

    Gbajabiamila clarifies ASUU half salary payment

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has clarified the reason why lecturers may not get fully paid for the eight months the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was on strike.

    Gbajabiamila, in a statement on Monday, said the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the proposal of “partial” payment was being awaited.

    Titled ‘Statement by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila on the resolution of outstanding issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria,’ the statement reads: “When the Academic Staff Union of Universities called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities, and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption. This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision.

    “Since then, the Executive and the House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike. We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes the sum of N170,000,000,000 to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers. The bill also includes additional N300,000,000,000 in revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.

    “Furthermore, the House of Representatives has convened the Accountant General of the Federation, the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

    “The Executive position that it is not obligated to pay salaries to adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

    “The Executive position that it is not obligated to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is premised on the law and the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions. Nonetheless, interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers. We look forward to a favourable consideration by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who has manifested his desire to what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.

    “Implementing meaningful change takes time, especially when appropriations and modifications to systems such as IPPIS are required. Therefore, I urge all parties to be patient and grant each other the presumption of goodwill to the extent necessary to achieve our shared objectives. This is not a time for political brinkmanship. There is no more pressing objective than to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities. We must prevent this possibility by all means, as these disruptions risk the promise and potential of our nation’s youth.”

  • UniJos VC appeals to lecturers to resume teaching

    UniJos VC appeals to lecturers to resume teaching

    Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Prof. Tanko Ishaya, on Monday in Jos appealed to the varsity’s chapter of ASUU to be compassionate with students and resume lectures.

    The national body of ASUU suspended its eight-month-old strike on Oct. 14, following a court order directing union members to resume lectures and an intervention by the House of Representatives leadership.

    Part of the agreement the union reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives was that 50 per cent of members’ eight months withheld salaries would be paid.

    ASUU had asked its members across universities not to return to lecture theatres having been paid half salaries for the month of October.

    The University of Jos chapter declared on Friday its members would not return to the lecture theatres unless the last agreement reached was adhered to.

    Ishaya told newsmen that the lecturers needed to return to lecture theatres to prevent university education from total collapse.

    He pleaded with the union to consider the plight of students and parents and sheath their sword for the growth of education in the country.

    “ASUU should please be considerate and compassionate with students and parents and return to the classroom.

    “I appeal that it allows academic activities to go on while further negotiations with government on payment of withheld salaries continues.

    “We have asked these students to resume; it will be traumatic to ask them to return home again having spent eight months at home already,’’ he pleaded.

    Ishaya noted that ASUU’s struggles were for the betterment of education and appealed to the Federal Government to address its demands and stop treating university lecturers like other civil servants.

    He decried the remuneration and condition of service of lecturers in Nigerian universities as poor when compared with their counterparts in other clime.

    “I have had the privilege to be in academic environments in other parts of the world, and I can categorically say that the remuneration and conditions of service of lecturers in Nigeria is not comparable with our sister countries.

    “I am not in support of strike, but I’m appealing to the Federal Government to treat university workers differently when it comes to the implementation of the `no-work-no-pay’ policy.

    “The role of an academic is not only teaching, but there is also research, community service and as one advances on job, we also play administrative roles.

    “So, I am appealing to the Federal Government to understand that the academic environment is peculiar; it is not like normal civil service,’’ he said.

    Ishaya lamented that the recent ASUU strike had done huge damage to the university system and called on government and the union to find better ways of resolving crises.

  • ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm amidst claims of half salary

    ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm amidst claims of half salary

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has urged members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to remain calm over their claim of half salary payment by the Federal Government.

    In a statement he personally signed in Abuja on Monday, the Speaker noted that efforts to find lasting solutions to the concerns frequently raised by ASUU were ongoing.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari had indicated interest to wade into the latest concerns raised by the union.

    “When the ASUU called off its industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities,” he said.

    He said the executive and the House of Reps had worked to address the issues that led to the strike, adding that the House is currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill.

    This, according to him, includes N170 billion to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers.

    He said the bill included additional N300 billion revitalisation fund to improve the infrastructure and operations of the federal universities.

    “Furthermore, the House of Reps has convened the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), ASUU and other stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS),” he said.

    He said the effort was being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

    Gbajabiamila, however, noted that the position taken by the executive that it is not obligated to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is premised on the law.

    He said the decision was also premised on the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.

    The speaker said that intervention had been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers, adding that it looked forward to a favourable consideration by the president.

    He said Buhari had manifested his desire to what was prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.
    Gbajabiamila said the house is convening a national summit on Tertiary Education Reform, adding that it had called for papers and memoranda from members of the public.

    He said submissions received as well as expert presentations at the summit would inform the policy recommendations and actions.

  • Half salary payment for ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm

    Half salary payment for ASUU: Gbajabiamila calls for calm

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, has urged members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to remain calm over their claim of half salary payment by the Federal Government.

    In a statement he personally signed in Abuja on Monday, the Speaker noted that efforts to find lasting solutions to the concerns frequently raised by ASUU were ongoing.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari had indicated interest to wade into the latest concerns raised by the union.

    “When the ASUU called off its industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities,” he said.

    He said the executive and the House of Reps had worked to address the issues that led to the strike, adding that the House is currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill.

    This, according to him, includes N170 billion to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers.

    He said the bill included additional N300 billion revitalisation fund to improve the infrastructure and operations of the federal universities.

    “Furthermore, the House of Reps has convened the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), ASUU and other stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS),” he said.

    He said the effort was being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman.

    Gbajabiamila, however, noted that the position taken by the executive that it is not obligated to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is premised on the law.

    He said the decision was also premised on the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.

    The speaker said that intervention had been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers, adding that it looked forward to a favourable consideration by the president.

    He said  Buhari had manifested his desire to what was prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.

    Gbajabiamila said the house is convening a national summit on Tertiary Education Reform, adding that it had called for papers and memoranda from members of the public.

    He said submissions received as well as expert presentations at the summit would inform the policy recommendations and actions.

  • ASUU: University parents forum form union to prevent future strike

    ASUU: University parents forum form union to prevent future strike

    In a bid to prevent future strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, a body comprising of the University parents  Forum Association has formed a group known as Coalition of Parents, Professionals and all well-meaning Nigerians (CPOSONU)

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reached out to the convener of the forum, Jerry Okundaye and he said the objective is to set up a forum where everyone involved can come together to discuss ways that the Nigerian public Universities can move forward, tackle its problems, fix challenges by other means rather than resorting to embarking on strike actions.

    “The Uni Parents Forum is an organization set up to mitigate the incessant disagreement between Government and ASUU, avert strike actions in our universities and other institutions of learning, and above all to chart a new course for the entire Nigerian Educational system

     

    ”The immediate objective of CPOSONU is to form a Coalition of Parents, Professionals and all well meaning Nigerians to avert the looming strike action that may arise as a result of the current disagreement between Government and ASUU over the payment of salary. This will be too much to swallow after 8 months of strike action in our universities.

    “As you may have known, the power play by Government and ASUU touches on the destinies our youths and that of our nation in Sour and negative manner.
    ” Therefore, we call on all well meaning Nigerians who love Education, our Youths and our Fatherland, Nigeria, to join the CPOSONU WhatsApp Platform for us to chart a new course for our Education, our Youths and nation, Nigeria. Enough of this play and drama with our children”
     The WhatsApp number to join if interested in the group is 08179655422
  • ASUU got pro rata payment, for work done, not half salary, FG says

    ASUU got pro rata payment, for work done, not half salary, FG says

    The Federal Government has denied the accusation that it paid members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) half salaries in October. Instead, ASUU, it says, got pro-rata payment which means it got paid for days its members worked in October

    Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in a statement was reacting to reports on alleged selective treatment and half salary payment to ASUU members.

    The ministey described both reports as grossly inaccurate, misleading and barefaced distortion of facts.

    It noted that members of ASUU were paid their October salary pro-rata, and not half salary as the media widely reported.

    Pro-rata was done because they cannot be paid for work not done.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, never directed the Accountant General of the Federation to pay the university lecturers half salary.

    “Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), asking ASUU to go back to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the Minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike.

    “The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to Ngige in a similar vein and our labour inspectors in various states also confirmed that they have resumed work.

    “So, the minister wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, directing that their salaries should be restored.

    “They were paid pro-rata according to the number of days they worked in October,’’ he said.

    He added counting from the day they suspended their industrial action, pro-rata was done because “you cannot pay them for work not done. Everybody’s hands are tied.”

    Oshundun also dismissed a statement by the Chairperson of ASUU, Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) branch, Muhammad Al-Mustapha, that the Minister of Labour and Employment was biased in the payment of salaries to selected professional members of the union.

    “Those obviously being referred to by the UDUS ASUU chairperson are members of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN) who abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU.

    “This is because they abhorred the incessant strikes by the union and its grave effects on medical education in Nigeria and production of more medical doctors.

    “Accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment of biased payment of salaries to selected professional members of ASUU is a barefaced distortion of facts.

    “Mustapha said he received information that a segment of the staff in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) has been paid seven months of their withheld salaries from March to September.

    “He added that this was due to a letter written to the Minister of Finance, instructing the exemption of the listed staff on the application of ‘No Work, No Pay’ rule,“ Oshundun said.

    According to him, to set the records straight, the medical lecturers who are being referred to by the Chairperson of ASUU UDUS branch, abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU.

    He added that the the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN) had in a statement corroborated this on Nov. 4.

    The association said in the statement, “Realising the emergency situation in the sub-region, worsened by emerging public health threats, we abstained from the strike.

    “The medical and dental lecturers in UDUS decided to continue the academic activities during the ASUU strike to save our healthcare from total collapse.

    Consequently, the ministry dismissed the accusation of selective treatment in payment of salaries to ASUU members, urging the media to crosscheck their facts to avoid feeding the public with the wrong information.

    However, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU President, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that members of the union were shocked when they received the half salary payment.

    According to Osodeke, we cannot understand what is going on. How do you pay people who are just resuming from a prolonged strike half salary.

    “Well, what we need to do, is to sort it out with the Minister of Labour and Employment,” Osodeke said.

  • Half Payment: UNIJOS ASUU orders members to stay-off work

    Half Payment: UNIJOS ASUU orders members to stay-off work

    The  University of Jos Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) on Friday ordered its members to stay off work pending when the full payment of withheld salaries will be paid by the Federal Government.

    This was made known via a statement signed and released by the institution’s branch president, Prof Lazarus Maigoro on Friday.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that lecturers in many Nigerian universities complained of collecting half salary for the month of October.

    According to the UNIJOS’ statement, the government is already reneging on the promise made before the strike was called-off.

    The statement partly reads, “One of the issues agreed at the meeting was that 50 per cent of the backlog of eight months arrears of our withheld salaries would be paid to our members immediately but as of the time of writing this press release, only 17 days prorated October salary was paid to our members by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

    “Having stayed for about nine months running now, our members in the University of Jos considered this an insult to them by the Accountant Gereral of the Federation.

    “Is the Accountant General of the Federation actually answerable to the Minister of Labour? So, if today the Minister of Agriculture directs the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the salaries of the staff of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have been on strike for over a year, will he obey that?

    “We wonder why Ngige is keen about withholding the salaries of ASUU members because members of staff of some Agricultural Research Institutes have been on strike for almost a year but they have been receiving their salaries regularly. Is this policy only for ASUU members?

    “We are also aware that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, wrote a memo to the Accountant General asking him to pay our members only from the day we suspended the strike.’’