By Abiola Olawale
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed plans to embark on a nationwide showdown after two weeks should President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fail to sanction the full payment of their withheld salaries.
The Union said it has given the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum which commenced on May 13, 2024.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke made this disclosure while speaking with the members of the press, on Thursday.
Osodeke said it is unfair for the Federal Government to pay lecturers four months of their 2022 withheld salaries and hold on to that of three-and-half months.
He contended that Tinubu has not conferred any favour upon the union members by remitting payment for four months, as they have completed all the necessary work during the period of their strike in 2022.
The professor added that none of the union’s members of the union had taken any leave over the past four years, as they have been dedicated to delivering their services.
He said: “Every university in Nigeria today is in the 2023/2024 academic year which means that by September/October, they will be in the 2024/2025 academic year. The implication of this is that for all the work for which we were not paid when we were on strike, we have covered them by making sacrifices.
“None of our members have gone on leave in the past three to four years, we have not gone on vacation so that we can cover the work that we didn’t do while we were on strike which we have covered. You can check, and ask the students. But when you said you are paying four out of seven-and-half, I don’t think you are being fair to us.”
The ASUU president also lamented the lack of a functional Governing Council in the universities across the country.
He also alleged that several illicit contracts and recruitments have been occurring within certain universities over the past months. According to him, these actions began after the dissolution of the Governing Councils of all federal universities by the National Universities Commission (NUC), following a directive from Tinubu.
He continued: “Nobody anticipated that we would have a university that would run for two weeks without a Governing Council but Nigerian universities, all of them, have been running for the past 11 months without Governing Councils, which means that all the actions taken in terms of employment, contract awards and what have you have passed through illegal process.
“People were recruited and we have evidence, contracts were awarded illegally, we have evidence. We should not be part of illegality and that is why we have given this two-week (ultimatum). After the two weeks, if this illegality does not stop, and all other issues…if these are not done, our union will meet, consider all the issues and think of what to do.”
The New Diplomat recalls that in 2022, academic and non-academic unions in Nigeria embarked on an eight-month strike to press home some of their demands including a better welfare package.
The administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently invoked a ‘no work, no pay policy’ against the unions but President Bola Tinubu, in October 2023, approved the release of four of the about eight months withheld salaries.
