…Says govt starving workers
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), at the weekend, said universities owned by federal and state governments were faced with imminent closure following lack of prompt payment of staff salaries.
Speaking at a press conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Port Harcourt Zone of ASUU said its zone was the worst hit with the issues of shortfall in salaries and unpaid salary arrears.
The institutions in the zone are the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State; Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State; Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State; and the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State.
In the news conference titled, ‘Shortfall and drawback of university staff salaries’, the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU, Prof. Beke Sese, said lecturers would no longer continue to endure the situations against the backdrop of current economic hardship in Nigeria.
Sese described the idea of withholding university staff salaries while establishing new universities at the same time as the height of irresponsibility and wickedeness.
He said:”Our members are being compelled by the actions and inactions of government to contemplate the hard decision of withdrawing our services.
”We call on the students, parents, the media and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene and request the federal as well as state governments to live up to their responsibilities in the universities to avoid the imminent and avoidable closure of our campuses.”
The professor lamented that last year, the Federal Government and some state governments enforced a policy of starvation in the universities by either paying fractional salaries or outright non-payment of salaries.
He said academic institutions had become the major recipients of ”this inhuman and abhorrent policy of starvation”, adding that at the Niger Delta University (NDU), lecturers were not paid salaries for a period of six months.
He lamented that lecturers could no longer cope with caring for their families, paying their children’s school fees and meeting other commitments with such imposed deficit in their income.
Sese said: ”That academic activities still go on at NDU in the face of this extreme deprivation, is indeed, an exemplary demonstration of patriotism, patience and unbridled commitment to service by members. But the elasticity definitely has a limit and should not be stretched any further.
”In both RSUST and IAUE, the government of the state has withheld union check-offs, which by interpretation is tantamount to paying fractional salaries.
”In the case of Uniport, fractional salaries were paid throughout last year and when there was hope of the refund of the withheld portion of salaries, the government resumed its policy of paying part salaries.
”The administration of the school claimed that there was shortfall in allocation to the institution between July 2016 and December 2016, but shortfall was part of the staff emolument all through the year (2016).”
In his brief remarks, Chairman, NDU, ASUU, Dr. Stanley Ogoun, said since the suspension of their strike last year, the union had engaged in continuous dialogue and interraction with the Bayelsa State Government.
But he said that if at the end of the day, all their negotiations with the government failed, the branch might be compelled to sit back at home.
He said: ”But let me correct an impression: there are sister unions within the university system. Often times, when other unions are on strike, but because ASUU appears to be more popular among them, it is assumed ASUU is on strike. As we speak, other unions in NDU are on strike, not ASUU.”
