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Tag: ASUU

  • ASUU rejects advert for Danfodio varsity VC, others’ position

    ASUU rejects advert for Danfodio varsity VC, others’ position

    The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUS) Chapter, has rejected the advertisement for the institution’s Vice Chancellor and other positions in the institution.

    This is contained in a statement signed by the branch chairman and Secretary, Prof. Nuruddeen Almustapha and Dr Shu’aibu Sadiku, respectively on Friday in Sokoto.

    ASUU described the Federal Government’s decision to cancel the miscellaneous provisions in university system as undermining the principles of transparency, equity, and merit-based selection of university principal officers.

    According to the union, the dissolution of the University Governing Council and the arbitrary dissolution of all Federal University Governing councils in June, 2023 by the National Universities Commission (NUC) , undermined the established procedures and autonomy of these institutions.

    ” Unauthorized advertisment of vacancies for the offices of  the vice chancellors and other Principal Officers in federal universities also violates proper procedures and threatens the integrity and academic freedom of Nigeria’s public universities.

    ” It has flagrantly violate section III, subsections I and II of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993, ” the union said.

    The union explained that university law distinctly delineates the composition, roles, and dissolution procedures of the University Governing Councils.

    ” It also prescribes the protocol in the event of Council’s absence, particularly regarding the appointment of principal officers. At no point does the law transfer the council’s functions to Minister or the Visitor, the union said.

    ” ASUU-UDUS urgently calls on the President Bola Tunubu, the Minister of Education, and other critical stakeholders to  as a matter of urgency and necessity to reconstitute the Governing Councils of public universities.

    ” This step is crucial for universities to operate legally and smoothly, aligning with the provisions of the law.

    ” It will uphold the autonomy and independence of universities by adhering to established procedures and safeguarding their integrity.

    ” Investigate all manners of violations of the Law in the recent actions taken by various universities in the absence of the government councils, ” the union pleaded.

    The union yrged all stakeholders to  support the autonomy and integrity of public universities for the ”betterment of our educational system and the future of our nation”.

    NAN reports that the NUC  had on June 22, 2023 announced the dissolution of governing councils of all federal universities and boards of other agencies and parastatals in the country.

    The NUC directive was based on a similar one issued three days earlier by President Tinubu ordering the dissolution of the boards of all government parastatals, agencies and companies.

  • Benue varsity ASUU suspends strike

    Benue varsity ASUU suspends strike

    The Benue State University chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has suspended its strike, a statement by Kwaghfan Tarnongo and Terrumun Gajir, its Chairman and Secretary, said on Wednesday in Makurdi.

    Recall that academic staff of university had, on Feb. 1, embarked on an industrial action over issues bordering on promotions, earned academic allowances (EAA), annual steps increment, among other demands.

    The union, however, said that its decision to suspend the strike followed the intervention of Gov Hyacinth Alia who had promised to address its demands.

    “Congress was briefed on the personal intervention of our governor and Visitor to the university; he personally appealed and assured us that all the grievances will be resolved as soon as the strike is suspended.

    “Congress, therefore, mandated the officials to go into a tripartite agreement.

    ”The state government has also assured us that the agreement will be fully implemented. The union believes in the ability of the governor to fully, expeditiously and satisfactorily implement the agreement reached,” the statement said.

    Meanwhile, the management of the university has announced Thursday, March 14, as resumption date for academic activities.

    Registrar of the institution, Dr Mfaga Modom, who announced the resumption date, also said that second semester examinations would commence between March 20 and April 17.

    The Registrar advised students of the university to immediately return to campus and commence preparation ahead of the slated examinations.

  • ASUU urges FG to honour agreement

    ASUU urges FG to honour agreement

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has appealed to the Federal Government to honour and implement the agreement the union entered with the government to forestall industrial action.

    ASUU Coordinator in charge of Kano Zone, Mr Abdulqadir Muhammad stated this at a news conference at the end of a zonal meeting on Wednesday in Kano.

    He said the issues included renegotiation of the Federal Government – ASUU 2009 agreement, reached when the exchange rate to the U.S. dollar was N146 as against the current N1,900.

    Muhammad said the exchange rate has eroded its salaries by 90 per cent.

    He lamented that the federal government was adamant to sign the draft agreement reached with the union after the composition of new leadership of the negotiation committee.

    “Therefore, the union calls on the President Bola Tinubu to immediately set in motion the process of upward-reviewing and signing of the Nimi Briggs Committee’s renegotiated draft agreement as a mark of goodwill, and to forestall industrial crisis and restore hope for Nigeria’s public universities,” he said.

    Muhammad, however, confirmed that members of the union had received partial payment of their seven withheld salaries, and stressed the need to ensure full payment of the remaining balance.

    The union, he said, also urged the Kaduna government to pay the five-month withheld salaries of Kaduna State University.

    While calling for payment of the Earned Academic Allowances and promotion arrears abandoned after agreement, Muhammad condemned the dissolution of the Governing Councils of public universities, adding the action contravened Universities Miscellaneous Acts and respective university laws.

    He further advocated review of the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) Act, to check proliferation of universities in the country without adequate provision for funding.

    On the state of the nation, the union decried the spate of insecurity, poverty, unemployment, rising cost of living, displacement and destitution in the country.

    “ASUU uses this opportunity to call on all patriots in the media, civil society, labour movement and student groups to supports its altruistic struggle to reposition Nigerian public universities.

    “Finally, the zone urges President Bola Tinubu to faithfully implement the contents of the agreement it freely signed with the unions through collective bargaining”.

  • ASUU has lost 46 professors due to economic hardship in the country – Muhammed

    ASUU has lost 46 professors due to economic hardship in the country – Muhammed

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) Abuja branch,  has decried the deaths of some professors due to economic hardship in the country.

    This revelation was made known by Salahu Muhammed, the Abuja zonal coordinator of ASUU, via a statement on Monday.

    According to him, the union has lost some professors at some universities, including the University of Abuja, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State University, Nasarawa, and Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai.

    He added that since the last decade, more Nigerian academics have been leaving the country in droves in search of greener pastures, thereby leading to the overwork of the patriotic ones that remain in the system, whose level of patriotism is dwindling daily due to poor remuneration and working conditions.

    “It is also worthy of note that the union has lost several members during the period under review due to herculean working conditions, psychological and emotional stress, and diseases related to these conditions. For instance, universities in the Abuja zone have lost 46 members.

    “Just two days ago, the union lost an eminent Professor of Fisheries, Johnson Oyero, of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, due to his inability to afford a quality medical facility,” Muhammed stated.

  • Finally, FG begins payment of ASUU’s withheld salaries

    Finally, FG begins payment of ASUU’s withheld salaries

    The Federal Government has commenced the payment of the withheld salaries of academics under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

    Multiple sources in the academic sector confirmed the development on Monday.

    The chairperson, ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Gbolahan Bolarin, who confirmed the developmentnon the record, said, “Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in.”

    President Bola Tinubu Tinubu had in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight months’ ASUU withheld salaries of the workers.

    The salaries were withheld when the administration of former President 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, Tahir Mamman, recently said the government has increased the university workers’ salaries by 35 per cent.

    The minister also said the government has granted autonomy to the universities by removing them from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System .

    He added that the universities no longer need a waiver to recruit and fill their vacancies.

    These resolutions were reached through informal consultations with the unions based in the tertiary institutions, Mamman said.

  • Additional 47 federal universities not needed now – ASUU

    Additional 47 federal universities not needed now – ASUU

    Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) branch, has decried the move by the National Assembly to create additional 47 federal universities.

    UI ASUU Chairman, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, stated this in an interview in Ibadan on Tuesday on the sidelines of its scholarship awards to some indigent students.

    Akinwole expressed concern over the planned creation of additional federal universities when government was still struggling to fund the existing ones.

    According to him, the Federal Government is still battling to maintain the quality of the 52 universities it currently has.

    “Thinking of adding 47 more universities, we begin to wonder what is the objective. The objective cannot be noble at all.

    “If it is noble, you will see the seriousness in the way government is handling the existing ones,” Akinwole said.

    He noted that since government had continually seen university education as the cheapest, it had shown little or no interest in paying salaries and allowances being owed universities.

    “Perhaps the House of Representatives and the federal government should answer the question: ‘Why are they establishing 47 new universities when they have not taken care of the ones we have?” he queried.

    The ASUU chairman described the removal of tertiary institutions from IPPIS as mere ‘noisemaking’, as there had been no letter to that effect to the universities.

    “No letter, as we speak, has been communicated, either to the bursary or the heads of the institutions.

    “All we have been seeing is so much motion without movement,” Akinwole said.

    He also said that government had not paid them four months’ salaries as being claimed.

    He said the salary adjustment that was included in 2023 had yet to be effected, adding that academic staff members in universities were still earning salaries as approved in the negotiated document of 2009.

    He, therefore, urged the government to always effect its policies before making pronouncements.

  • FG vows to reform basic education sector

    FG vows to reform basic education sector

    Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, says the Federal Government will soon introduce proactive measures to transform the basic education sector.

    He stated this during a courtesy visit to Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, on Thursday in Yola.

    Mamman said that President Bola Tinubu has mandated the ministry to accord pririoty to the issue of out-of-school children to enhance access to quality education and raise standards in the sector.

    He, therefore, sought for the support of Adamawa government in that regard.

    In his remarks, Fintiri commended the Minister on the timely intervention, and assured full support to facilitate successful implementation of the programme in the state and the country at large

    He lauded the federal government over the removal of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), as well as payment of withheld salaries of the lecturers.

    Fintiri said that his administration had initiated sound education reform programmes, adding that the measure drastically reduced the menace of out-of-school children and Almajiri syndrome in the state.

  • Exemption of ASUU from IPPIS unfair, civil servants complain

    Exemption of ASUU from IPPIS unfair, civil servants complain

    Some civil servants have criticised the exemption of university lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

    The civil servants expressed their reservation in separate interviews.

    IPPIS was created in 2006 as part of the reform initiatives of the Federal Government to enhance the storage of personnel records and streamline the administration of monthly payroll.

    But over the years, the leadership of ASUU had agitated for the Federal Government to exempt university lecturers from IPPIS and create an alternative payment platform for them.

    The agitation by ASUU resulted in an eight-month long strike by union in 2022.

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC), in a meeting on Dec. 13, finally approved the removal of public tertiary institutions from IPPIS.

    The Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, said that the development meant that members of staff of public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education have been taken off IPPIS.

    Mrs Grace Uzor, a Civil Servant, said that IPPIS was created to eliminate unauthorised personnel workforce (ghost workers) from government payroll.

    According to Uzor, IPPIS was also created to make retrieval of personnel information of all public servants seamless.

    She said that allowing the university lecturers to exit the system was unacceptable, adding that the system only needed to be monitored and sanitised.

    “If the policy that was put in place to prevent corruption can not work it is a problem.

    “And if any group of people can choose to exit a laid down policy, it also means that there is a problem,” she said.

    An accountant, Mr Emmanuel Isa, said that the scheme programmed automatic stoppage of payment to personnel due for retirement as a result of length of service, age and tenure, thus reducing wastage or unauthorised payments.

    He said that under the IPPIS, unapplied and unutilised funds were easily monitored and tracked.

    “Monthly emoluments are paid to all public servants on the scheme same day, no matter the location within the country without delay.

    “From all indications, the scheme is good but the Federal Government only needed to sanitise it,” he said.

    Another Civil Servant, Abbas Aliu, said that the government should scrap IPPIS if it was no longer desirable, rather than its selective application.

    “If IPPIS has not lived up to expectation, it should be scrapped, rather than its selective application, after all we are all employees of the same government,” he said.

    A financial expert, Mr Okechukwu Unegbu, said that it was regrettable that even with IPPIS, incidents of ghost workers had not abated.

    Unegbu, a past president of the Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), urged the Federal Government to scrap the entire IPPIS system if it was not able to sanitise it and make it function optimally.

     

  • JUST IN: FG removes tertiary institutions from IPPIS

    JUST IN: FG removes tertiary institutions from IPPIS

    The Federal Government has removed tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with immediate effect.

    Similarly, the institutions are now to recruit their personnel without recourse to the Office of the Head of Service of the federation to reduce the bureaucracy involved in such exercises.

    The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, who disclosed this at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, said this was part of government efforts to reduce the challenges facing tertiary institutions across the country.

    ‘’Today at council, a most important decision was taken concerning the education sector of the economy. The vexatious issue bordering the stakeholders in the sector, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), was settled.

    ‘’The payment of universities staff through IPPIS has been settled and they are now to use their platform to pay their staff.

    ‘’They are now to also recruit their staff through normal criteria. They will, however, continue to be supervised by the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission as is the practice,’’ he said.

    The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, also disclosed that the FEC approved the review of waivers by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in order to address the issue of loss of revenue.

    ‘’The Federal Government has approved the review of waiver by the Nigeria Customs Service which has been a thing of concern and loss of scarce revenue. The service has observed that the waiver has affected it targets.’’

    He said that necessary recommendations would be made to address the issue of Customs waivers in the country, adding that appropriate measures are expected from such deliberations going forward.

    The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said that the FEC approved two contracts for the sector, worth over N4.32 billion.

    The first contract, he said, was for the purchase of navigation communication and remote access devices for the Port Harcourt International Airport, worth N2.22 billion.

    ‘’The second contract was for a technical support to maintain the new terminals in four international airports of Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt, worth N4.1 billion. These contracts are made for the comfort of travellers in the country,’’ he said.

  • Japa: Mass resignation hit Nigerian universities – ASUU

    Japa: Mass resignation hit Nigerian universities – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) on Tuesday, said that the most departments and units in Nigeria’s public universities were short-staffed due to the resignation of lecturers in search of greener pastures.

    This was made known by, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, the chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, disclosing that Nigeria’s public universities were in very pitiable conditions with stress and frustration visible in the faces of poorly-remunerated lecturers.

    He said, “Except President Bola Tinubu arrests the situation by reviewing the conditions of service in terms and salaries, allowances, and infrastructure, many good hands will continue to resign and leave the country. Unfortunately, the same government that is not funding education has a National Assembly proposing to establish 32 more universities.”

    The chairman said poor and delayed salaries, unpaid allowances, poor infrastructure, lack of respect for the academic community, and the seeming dwindling hope are some of the factors responsible for the resignation of lecturers in the past few months.

    Continuing, he said that establishing more universities will not solve the problem, but rather improve the capacity of existing universities to be able to admit more students.

    “The union has received reports on how colleagues resign on a monthly basis because of the way lecturers are treated and poorly remunerated in Nigeria. Universities around the world are poaching more quality hands, and if not halted by the government, through intentional reviewing of upward conditions of service, it will be difficult to retain the best hands.

    “Vice Chancellors can not single-handedly employ to replace staff as urgent as it is needed again. They have to contact Abuja for approval, which may take six months to a year, if not more, before they get approval. By this time, the best candidate has gone to a more serious country that respects quality. Sadly, people from higher up there from the Ministry of Education to legislators themselves want to dictate who the universities should employ,” the don said.