The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Non-academic staff

  • Non-academic staff seek unification of labour centres

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to lead the process of making organised labour one indivisible entity.

    NASU President Chris Ani, who spoke in Abuja at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union, argued that a strong and virile unified labour centre would be in a position to champion better condition of service for workers.

    “We strongly believe in the unification of all labour centres into one strong and virile labour centre that will be able to deliver on the mandate of Nigerian workers. We urge the NLC to take the driver’s seat in the effort for the unification of the labour centres in Nigeria into one formidable united front,” Ani said.

    Calling on states to implement the peculiarity allowance to non-teaching staff employed in primary and post-primary educational boards, he urged its members to mobilise against state governors that are not sympathetic to workers’ welfare.

    Ani said: “NASU members in primary, post-primary and technical education boards across the length and breadth of Nigeria have suffered tremendous hardship as a result of the refusal of some state governments to accord the payment of salaries the priority it deserves.”

    Commending the affected NASU members for their resilience and perseverance, he urged members, who have been negatively affected by non-payment of salaries in some states, to ensure that they joined other workers in their states to vote out such governors and their parties in the forthcoming election.

    According to Ani, this is to replace them with those who will treat the payment of salaries as a priority. “NASU members are, therefore, advised to use their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) wisely as any attempt to return these insensitive politicians will amount to voting for continuous hunger and non-payment of salaries for another four years,” he added.

    The union commended the government for inaugurating renegotiation committees for the polytechnics and colleges of education, but expressed disappointment at the committees, which have failed to meet since inauguration.

    NASU President lauded the government for approving additional N8 billion for the payment of earned allowances to non-teaching staff in the universities. He urged the Federal Ministry of Education to facilitate the process of fund disbursement to members of the three unions in the universities and inter-university centres as soon as possible.

    The union admonished the government to put an end to non-payment of earned allowances by ensuring that henceforth the allowances are paid monthly and provision made for the allowances in the 2019 budget.

    NASU also called on government to put an end to the payment of salaries in percentages to staff of universities in line with the memorandum of understanding entered into with the three non-teaching unions in the education sector.

    The union described as appalling the nonchalant attitude of the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe and other Ministers whose ministries supervise research institutions in the country.

    It added: “The lukewarm attitude shown by them on issues bothering on the welfare and conditions of service of staff of the sector does not indicate that they are interested in research and development of the country.

     

     

  • FUTO shutdown as non-academic staff begin strike

    FUTO shutdown as non-academic staff begin strike

    Academic and other official activities were yesterday grounded at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) by protesting members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU).

    The aggrieved workers, under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising of Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Scientists (NAATS), said they were following the directive of the national body.

    Chairman of JAC Comrade Ibeji Nwokeoma said: “The Federal Government gave N23 billion for the payment of earned allowance to all workers of Federal Universities, unfortunately, the money was hijacked by our sister union and they shared it as their spirit moved them, giving over N18 billion to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) alone, leaving a little above N4 billion for three independent staff unions. ASUU hijacked the money at the national level in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education.

    “We felt it was wrong and we asked the Federal Government what the sharing formula was, why they could give one union over N18 billion out of the N23 billion. We also want to know the yardstick for the sharing, whether population or the nature of work they do in the university, but till now, the Federal Government has answered us.

    “So we are demanding that if what they gave is academic earned allowance as they called it, the government should give us our own fair share of the largesse. They should also give the Non-Academic Staff their own earned allowance because we all work in the university.

    “We have been peaceful all these while about the strike but the government has been recalcitrant and that is why we adopted the measure to draw the public’s attention to prevail on the Federal Government to address the issue so that our students will not suffer”.

    SSANU Chairman, Comrade Franklin Matheus, said: “We want to inform the public through this action that we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government on issues including shortfall in workers’ salaries, earned allowances and Staff School emoluments, but none has been implemented. We agreed that these earned allowances will be paid before the end of last year, but what the government did was to give ASUU N23 billion and a paltry N4 billion to all the non-academic staff unions. So if the Federal Government can pay N23 billion to ASSU as earned academic allowance, we are demanding N66 billion as our earned allowances.

    “We want the government to obey the judgment of the Industrial Court. We can only end this strike if the government addresses the skewed allowance and pay us N66 billion which is the earned allowance for non-academic staffs.”

  • Protest: UI suspends Matriculation ceremony

    The authorities of the University of Ibadan (UI), has suspended its planned Matriculation ceremonies for the 2015/2016 academic session earlier scheduled for Thursday.

     

    This followed the protest staged by non-academic staff union over non-remittance of deductions and unpaid agreed allowance.

     

    ‎The University of Ibadan had reportedly received shortfall from federal allocations ‎leading to problems with meeting domestic welfare issues of staff.

     

    ‎It was gathered that the shortfall of the university since November 2015 is now close to N1billion.

     

    The unions had mobilized members and shut entrance gates into the university.

     

    Reacting, Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan, Prof Idowu Olayinka said that the university management has been transparent by announcing to all unions that the university is having a shortfall in its personnel cost since December 2015, making payment of some allowances difficult.

     

    Olayinka informed that while the total personnel cost of the university is about N932million monthly, the university received N663million in December, 2015 from federal government, and N782 million in January and February 2016 respectively.

     

    While stating that it was regrettable to find the university at the present condition, Olayinka appealed to the federal government to assist the premier university in meeting her needs in order to be focused on research, capacity building and development.

     

    He noted that the allowances being clamored for by the unions amounted to about N76 million naira monthly which is outside the allocations to the university and unrealistic in view of the present financial strain facing the institution.

     

    While regretting that some students while trying to run away from the orientation venue got injured, Olayinka said it was better to have students over 3,500 safe and sound than going ahead with the matriculation and risking their lives.

     

    A major victim of the protest was the orientation programme for the new student holding at the International Conference centre of the University which was disrupted as the unions stormed the venue and switch off the power supply to the hall.

     

    While the union members moved into the hall, students who were already seated were chased out of ‎the hall with chairs turned upside down.

    The unions were protesting ‎non-remittance of deductions from salaries, and lack of democratic ethos from the University Management.

     

    The SSANU Chairman, Wale Akinremi had criticized the administrative style of the management saying it was not democratic enough asking it to be alive to the welfare of staff and remit deductions.

     

    Although the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were not part of the protest, it’s members had to park their vehicles outside the campus and forced to trek to their offices.

     

    As at the time of filing this report, the Vice Chancellor, Principal officers were in a meeting with security agencies on the situation.

     

  • Non-academic staff protest grounds UI

    Non-academic staff protest grounds UI

    BUSINESSES were paralysed yesterday at the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, following a protest by non-teaching staff unions.

    They were protesting the non-payment of workers of the staff school, non-payment of arrears and non-remittance of deductions to their cooperative societies and unions since December 2015.

    Members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), the Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) locked the main gate, causing a massive traffic jam.

    NASU Chairman Segun Arojo and his SSANU counterpart, Wale Akinremi, shut down the school’s internal transport system, forcing freshmen and lecturers going for exams to trek.

    UI is to resume formally next week but postgraduate examinations are ongoing in some departments.

    Akinremi said the protest was also to draw attention to the non-democratic nature of the university administration.

    He noted that the university administration had met with unions and acceded to act on some agreements which in the last few months had not been implemented.

    A source, who pleaded for anonymity, told The Nation that the university had since November been receiving a shortfall from the Federal Government to the tune of N301million.

    The source said the monthly wage bill stands at N932million but the school received N632million in December and N782million in January, which made remittance of deductions to unions and payment of arrears of allowances impossible.

    The school’s spokesman, Olatunji Oladejo, said the university received a shortfall of funds from the Federal Government. This, he said, affected the deductions and cooperative.

    He said that the Vice Chancellor, Prof Idowu Olayinka, has scheduled a meeting with the unions.