The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has
said it doesn’t make sense for members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities to continue to earn salaries while on strike.
ASUU began one month warning strike on February 14, 2022 and
since then has not suspended its industrial action.
Speaking to The PUNCH in an interview on Sunday, Nwajiuba
said, “The lecturers have continued to earn salaries while on strike; it
doesn’t make sense to earn salaries when you have refused to work.
“If you refuse to even pay them, by the time they call off the strike, they will still come back to fight for the payment of the period they refused to work.
“You can air your grievances, come to the negotiation table
without refusing to work. The issue of the strike has become a thing of
concern. I have four children; two have graduated while the other two are still
in public universities. I feel for them, I feel for other students who are at
home. I feel the same way other parents feel, but can I bring money from my
house and give it to ASUU?
“The Ministry of Education isn’t the employer of the
lecturers, we are a supervisory body, and there is no way we can fire or hire
someone. Universities have governing councils that supervise the activities
that go on, our job as in the ministry is to supervise, we can’t meddle in.
“On the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel
Information System, I am also paid via the IPPIS, it is owned by the
government, there is no way you can tell the government to throw away its
platform and pay you with another platform.”
Meanwhile, the President of the Senior Staff Association of
Nigerian Universities, Mohammed Ibrahim, has accused the Federal Government of
focusing on frivolous things and neglecting the education sector and the
youths.
Speaking during the 2022 May Day celebration in Abuja on
Sunday, Ibrahim said the universities were forced to shut down due to
government insincerity, adding that the standard of education had continued to
go down.
He stated, “Our universities have been forced to shut down
due to the insincerity of the government to keep to its promises. The standard
of education continues to go down due to the insensitivity of the government
and the inability to provide a good teaching, learning and work environment
through lack of basic facilities that will make them compete favourably with
their peers in other parts of the world.
“The morale of
university workers is dampened by the poor pay package and the government
appears to be paying lip service to education. It is very clear that government
pays more attention to frivolous things and has neglected youths that are said
to be the leaders of tomorrow.’’
The SSANU President lamented the condition of Nigerian
workers whom he said were going through perilous times in form of insecurity,
economic hardship and other challenges.
He noted, “This year’s Workers Day comes when Nigerian
workers are passing through perilous and dangerous times. Nigerian workers and
indeed members of our great union are confronted with diverse challenges like
rising spate of armed banditry, kidnappings, insurgency, economic hardship and
worst of all, the inability of the government to keep to agreements it entered
into with all the university-based unions in 2009.
“Our members have been denied payment of new Minimum Wage
Consequential Adjustment arrears and backlog of earned allowances in addition
to other violations of our rights and privileges. Our universities have been forced to shut
down due to the insincerity of the government to keep to its promises.”
He admonished the government to resolve the ongoing strike
by university workers and also tackle the challenges facing the country.
“Toying with the future of our children will spell doom for
our dear country. I call on the government to look into the demands of all the
university-based unions and take urgent steps to address them so that our
children will go back to school,’’ the union urged.
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