FG, ASUU begin fresh showdown, minister tackles lecturers

The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities may be ready for another confrontation, as Minister of Education Adamu Adamu has reiterated the government will not pay academics their full wages despite their continuing statewide strike.Information Guide Nigeria

The ASUU began nationwide rallies on Monday to urge their demand for full pay after the Federal Government failed to pay them for the eight-month period they were on strike.

However, Adamu, speaking with State House media in Abuja on Wednesday, emphasized that the protesting academics will not be compensated for uncompleted work in accordance with the “No work, no pay” policy.

According to The PUNCH, ASUU, which began a strike in February, called off the industrial action in October after a Court of Appeal judgment.

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Following this event, the government paid half of the lecturers’ salary for the month of October while maintaining that it would not compensate them for the eight months they were on strike.

In response, ASUU initiated nationwide protests. On Wednesday, however, the education minister announced that instructors “would not be compensated for tasks not performed.”

The minister also responded to Professor Emmanuel Osodoke’s accusation that paying academics on a pro-rata basis was an attempt to make them temporary workers.

“Nobody can make university lecturers casual workers,” he said. When told that the lecturers were threatening a one-day action to protest government’s action, Adamu said he was not aware.

As a result of the ongoing statewide demonstrations launched by ASUU, Bayero University, Kano, has delayed all academic activities, including its scheduled first-semester examination for November 7, 2022.

Academic activities have been postponed to a later date, according to a statement issued by the university’s Secretary, Information and Publication Unit, on behalf of Registrar Bala Abdullahi.

The Vice-Chairman of the ASUU, BUK branch, Dr. Sagir Saleh, told reporters that the union had decided to demonstrate its “complete rejection” of the “amputation” of members’ salaries for the month of October 2022.

Moreover, the University of Benin chapter of ASUU has criticized the Federal Government for allegedly attempting to criminalize the union’s strike activity.

The lecturers protested the government’s decision to withhold their pay in a statement headlined “The assault on intellectualism,” which was delivered by the chapter’s union chairman, Ray Chikogu, at the chapter’s secretariat at UNIBEN.

In addition, the chairman of ASUU for the University of Ilorin, Professor Moyosore Ajao, demanded that the Federal Government refund the back salary owed to ASUU members during the strike.

Speaking in an interview with one of our correspondents, Ajao said, “My question back to them is if the work is going to be done, will the money be paid or not? If they are saying no payment for work not done, ASUU is not asking them to pay us for work not done. We are asking them to pay us because the work is going to be done.”

Meanwhile, ASUU President Osodeke claimed on Wednesday that lawmakers were plotting to privatize federal colleges across the country.

Speaking at a special congress of the ASUU of the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, formerly known as the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, in honor of the university’s outgoing Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard Kimbir, Osodeke stated that the two options were being considered by presidential candidates of some parties in the upcoming general elections.

He said, “If you don’t know, they are planning to sell the universities (federal universities) through public-private partnership, this is being planned by two presidential candidates and the other plan is to initiate student loan at five per cent interest rate.

“In Nigeria where you have graduates that cannot get a job for several years and by the time you spend 30 years, the loan will run to N40m,” he observed.

He said, “After suspending the eight months strike due to a court order and interventions of well-meaning Nigerians, the government went so low to withhold the salaries of ASUU members and only paid pro-rata for the October salary. The union rejects the casualisation of Nigerian academics.

“The best thing is that anytime there is a problem, you sit down and discuss to find a way out. So, when you have a problem with anyone, what you should do is to sit down and dialogue in an honest way and once you have agreed on any terms, please try to implement your agreement.

“But if you think you cannot, come back to the table again and discuss more, then you have other alternatives to solve the problem – but not embarking on strike that will affect the children. I know how more of our children have been affected psychologically and emotionally by the eight months strike, I think that is not good for us,” the religious leader said.JAMB Result

Speaking on behalf of the Babalakin family, Dr. Wale Babalakin, SAN, stated that his late father, Justice Bola Babalakin, led an honorable life and that the building was gifted to Fountain University on the condition that the institution continue to uphold probity and discipline in its operations.

In his message of goodwill, the governor of Osun State, Adeboyega Oyetola, assured stakeholders that his administration would continue to offer a hospitable operating environment for the university.

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