Comrade Happiness Uduk, The Zonal Coordinator of Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU Calabar zone has frowned at the the poor remuneration of Nigerian academics.
Addressing a press conference organised by some of the union’s zonal chairpersons recently in Calabar, she highlighted some of the union’s demands, which includes completion and implementation of the renegotiated ASUU/FGN 2009 Agreement, payment of withheld 7-month salaries, payment of the backlog, and mainstreaming of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), among others.
This was followed by a statement jointly signed by seven chairpersons of ASUU from different institutions, where the Union insists on the immediate and urgent commencement of the process that would lead to the completion and implementation of the draft agreement reached by the Joint Committee as led by the late Emeritus Prof. Nimi Briggs, as her members have been on the same salary scale for more than fifteen years.
“ASUU calls on the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay without further delay its members their varying months withheld salaries in Federal and State Universities for participating in the 2022 strike.
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“ASUU, as a union under the conditions of the ILO, like any other union, can use strikes as a veritable tool to get its demands. Denying its members their salaries for the period of being on strike and for work that has now been completed is against Labour best practices. “The government’s leaning on the obnoxious “no-work, no-pay policy is a breach of labour laws, and this is to further heighten the already tensed work environment.
Do not forget that the strike was unwillingly suspended on the heels of interventions and promises made both formally and informally by well-meaning Nigerians, including the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who is currently the Chief of Staff to the President.
“To say the least, none of those promises and entreaties has yielded any fruit, even with the current exalted position of Mr Gbajabiamila, they asserted”.The statement read in part.
Commenting on the state of the nation, the union urged the federal government to expedite action on the process of negotiating a new minimum wage with the NLC and also accelerate efforts to complete the renegotiations with ASUU for better take-home pay for their members. The group also called on government to put in place worker-friendly policies that would truly ameliorate the adverse effects of its earlier stiffening policies on petrol, food, and forex to counter the current atmosphere of despondency, despair, and frustration.
The statement was signed by the following persons: Comrade Happiness Uduk, Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Calabar; Comrade Chidi Mbah, Chairperson ABSU; Comrade Inyang Udosen, Chairperson AKSU; Comrade Ikechuku Igwenyi, Chairperson EBSU; Comrade Louis Omenyi, Chairperson FUNAI; Comrade Patrick Ushie, Chairperson CRUTECH; Comrade Peter Ubi, Chairperson UNICAL; and Comrade Opeyemi Olajide, Chairperson UNIUYO.
