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  • Proposed abolishment of TETFund: Plot to kill public tertiary institutions in Nigeria – ASUU alleges

    Proposed abolishment of TETFund: Plot to kill public tertiary institutions in Nigeria – ASUU alleges

    By Ovat Abeng

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Owerri zone, has called on Nigerians, particularly, the vulnerable students to voice out against the Federal Government proposed policy to abolished Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) across public institution in the country.

    They alleged that the proposed policy is a plot to killed public tertiary education in favour of Private schools largely own by political leaders.

    The called was made by the Owerri zonal coordinator of ASUU, Prof Dennis Aribodor on behalf of the zone during a press conference held at ASUU-UNIZIK conference hall in Awka, on Saturday.

    Prof Aribodor said the Union has urges the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, and the Federal House of Representatives Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, to be wary of the potential consequences of abrogating the TETFUND.

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    He said for the last one-and-a-half decades, it has been the backbone of Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions, supporting infrastructural development, postgraduate training, and research capacity building.

    He said the union stands against anything that would lead to the denigration or obliteration of TETFund as it observed with keen interest the ongoing debate on the review of the tax system in the country.

    He said part of the bill proposed to end funding of the TETFUND by the year 2030 and thereafter cede the responsibilities to the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND.

    According to the zonal coordinator, the conference aimed at sensitizing and inviting all stakeholders for a patriotic action to save public tertiary education in Nigeria by rejecting the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024 especially as it affects the abolishing of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

    “Going back to history, the 1980s were a particularly difficult period for Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions

    The economic downturn, compounded by the implementation of Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) of the Babangida Administration, masterminded by IMF and World Bank, led to cuts in public spending on education. Universities and other tertiary institutions were starved of resources, and lecturers were poorly paid. ASUU, recognizing that the future of Nigerian education was at stake, embarked on a series of strikes and negotiations with the government. Their demands were clear: improved funding for universities and education, respect for university autonomy, and provide better welfare for lecturers.

    “During this period, ASUU played a key role in the development of what would later become the Education Tax Fund (ETF), now known as TETFund (Tertiary Education Trust Fund). In January 1993, the Education Tax Act No7 of 1993 was promulgated. The Decree imposed a 2% tax on the assessable profits of all companies in Nigeria. This was a home grown solution to address issues of funding to rehabilitate decaying  infrastructure, restore the lost glory of education and confidence in the system as well as consolidate the gains thereto; build capacity of teachers and lecturers; teacher development; development of prototype designs; etc.

    “The Education Tax Act of No7 of 1993 mandated the Fund to operate as an Intervention Fund to all levels of Public Education (Federal, State and Local). This mandate lasted  between 1999 to May 2011 when the ETF Act was repealed and replaced by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act., due to lapses and challenges in operating the Education Trust Fund. These lapses and challenges include that the ETF was overburdened and overstretched and could only render palliative support to all levels of public educational institutions in Nigeria and duplication of functions and mandate of other.

    “Agencies set up after the ETF, such as  Universal Basic Education (UBE). Education Tax Fund played significant role in funding education from primary to tertiary in Nigeria until the law was amended to focus the Fund to only tertiary education, thus changing the name to TETFund..

    “Tetfund has since become one of ASUU’s most significant achievement channeling much needed resources into tertiary education system for infrastructure development, research, and teaching facilities.

    The distribution ratio of of the Fund is 2:1:1 as between Universities, Polytechnics and College of Education. TETFund currently provides intervention to Two Hundred and Forty Four (244) public tertiary institutions in Nigeria which are 96 Universities, 72 Polytechnics and 76 Colleges of Education.

    The break-down of these institutions is as follows: 49 Federal Universities, 47 State Universities, 34 Federal Polytechnics, 38 State polytechnics, 28 federal Colleges of Education and 48 State Colleges of Education. A tour of any campus of any public tertiary institution in Nigeria will bear eloquent testimonies to the establishment of TETFund.

    “Federal and state-owned tertiary institutions are currently referred to as TETFund Institutions because most projects are funded from this interventionist agency and should not be killed through the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024.

    “ASUU Owerri Zone has observed with keen interest the ongoing debate on the review of the tax system in the Nigeria, which is currently before the National Assembly.

    “Arising from the tax bill is the proposed abrogation of Education Tax. ASUU is alarmed by this dangerous and unpatriotic aspect of the proposed new tax regime to wit: that the Education Tax, called Development Levy, used to bankroll TETFund’s programmes should be ceded to the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

    “ASUU notes with serious concern Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024 which specifically states that only 50% of the Development Levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026 while NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages. TETFund will also receive “66⅔% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment” but “0% in 2030 year of assessment and thereafter”. This is alarming and should not be allowed particularly when priority has not been given to funding public education through budgetary allocation by successive federal and state governments.

    “To substantiate this, 7% was allocated to education as against 15% in the manifesto of APC (the party in power),  and over 20% recommended by UNESCO. Education including tertiary education is a public good and should not be commercialized especially by persons that benefited most from public education.

    The far-reaching consequence of the new tax system is that from 2030, all funds generated from the Development Levy would be passed to NELFUND.

    “ASUU Owerri Zone finds this development not only worrisome but also inimical to our national development objective because of the potential danger it has to the survival of TETFund. While viewing TETFund as the backbone for infrastructural development, postgraduate training and research capacity building in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions in the last fifteen (15) years, ASUU Owerri Zone is compelled by the circumstance to seriously observe that; *Taking any percentage out of the Education Tax (Development Levy) to service another agency not known to the TETFund Act 2011 is illegal and should not be allowed to stand;

    “Giving zero allocation of Development Levy to TETFund as from 2030 is a technical way of killing the agency and public tertiary education; the purported admonishment that TETFund should seek innovative ways of generating its funds is spurious and ill-advised because, as a creation of an Act, the institution dies without the fund;

    “Replacing TETFund with NELFUND is comparable to killing a parent to keep a newborn child alive; it is unethical and against the principle of natural justice;

    “The impact of TETFund on the campus of every tertiary institution in Nigeria is beyond description; abrogating it will take public tertiary education many years back and undermine the modest gains in repositioning Nigerian universities for global reckoning and transformative development;

    “Annual supports given to tertiary institutions by TETFund have substantially reduced industrial crises in many tertiary institutions; renovation of old facilities and provision of new ones and opportunities for staff development leading to career advancement have doused labour-related agitations on our campuses.

    “TETFund impacts not only tertiary-level education, but also the secondary down to kindergarten; it directly and/or indirectly supports the production of quality teachers and different categories of support staff in the entire educational system; and *The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) borrowed from the Nigerian experience while some other African countries have recently visited to understudy TETFund; Nigeria should be improving on the operations and sustainability of the agency, and not planning to emasculate or abrogate it.

    “ASUU Owerri Zone has resolved not to stand by and watch the denigration or obliteration of TETfund which represents the positive testament to our Union’s constructive engagements with Nigeria governments since 1992.

    “It is our considered view that abrogating the TETFund Act 2011, by design or default, will be a great disservice not just to education but to Nigeria as a nation. As a result, ASUU Owerri Zone is urging all stakeholders in the Nigeria Education project particularly the National Assembly, especially the Senate President and the Speaker of House of Representatives, to do all within their capacity to protect TETFund from being abrogated under the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024 and save the killing of public tertiary education, Prof Aribodor concluded.

    It was gathered that ASUU Owerri Zone comprising Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam, Anambra State; Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State; Imo State University Owerri, Imo State, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Abia State; and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

  • Blame FG for another long strike, ASUU tells Unizik students

    Blame FG for another long strike, ASUU tells Unizik students

    By Ovat Abeng

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Nnamdi Azikiwe University ASUU-UNIZIK Awka branch has told students of the University to blame the Federal Government of Nigeria, in case the Union embarked on another long strike nationwide.

    The Union made their position known when they joined their counterpart Nationwide to protest government failure to sign the agreement with the union over the past two years.

    The leaders in their respective remarks expressed the Union’s readiness to embark on another strike soon if nothing was done to honour their agreement with the federal government.

    Addressing a press conference at the ASUU-UNIZK Secretariat in Awka on Tuesday before the protest, the Chairman of ASUU-Unizik, Professor Kingsley Ubaorji regretted that two years after they were appealed to return to the classrooms, the federal government was yet to attend to their demands.

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    According to Prof Ubaorji “In the year 2022, ASUU was on strike for eight months, public universities in Nigeria were shut down, students were sent home because federal government of Nigeria refused to address ASUU demands as contained in renegotiated 2009 agreement which Academic Staff Unions of Nigerian Universities had with them.

    “ASUU suspended the strike because our union is very civil, law abiding and has respect for rule of law. This is two years after, and the federal government has refused to sign that agreement with our union.

    “To be honest with you comrades and esteemed members of the press, our union (ASUU), held an emergency National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, the 8th   of June, 2024. Our union observed that the administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is yet to engage fully, the union to address all outstanding issues with ASUU decisively.

    These issues are: *Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and implementation of the Prof. Nimi Briggs Report, Funding for the Revitalisation of Public Universities based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012, 2013, and the MoA of 2017, Release of the 3½ months of the withheld salaries, Payment of EAA, Release of unpaid staff salaries on sabbatical, adjunct, etc., due to IPPIS, Release of third-party deductions, Implementation of UTAS in place of IPPIS mplementation of the Reports of the visitation panels of Illegal dissolution of Governing Councils in Federal and State Universities and Proliferation of public universities.

    “As you are aware, many of these issues have outlived successive governments without any resolution, and other issues have been created by consecutive governments as well, like the implementation of the IPPIS, which came with the Muhammadu Buhari administration. Historically, the government has made commitments and signed agreements with ASUU, detailing timelines and expectations of both parties aimed at developing the Nigerian Universities as conditions for suspending any strike action. As soon as Lecturers resumed, the government and other stakeholders returned to status quo.

    “ASUU would again start writing letters and reminders to the government, which were most often ignored, resulting in another strike action by ASUU.

    It may interest the general public, especially Nigerian Students, to know that through ASUU struggles, Nigerians have enjoyed the following benefits:

    Regulated/subsidised tuition fees.

    The establishment of TETFund and NEEDS Assessment funds that have sponsored critical infrastructural projects in our universities, including lecture classrooms, office blocks, roads, hostels, electricity, etc.

    Purchase of laboratory equipment

    The implementation of a reviewed salary structure for lecturers (last reviewed 2009).

    Partial payment of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).

    Non-victimisation of devoted union members and other victories were made possible by ASUU struggles and strike actions.

    The 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement has been a recurrent decimal in all ASUU industrial actions since 2009. No government had taken the renegotiation seriously, but during the life of the past administration, negotiation came to a conclusion with the Nimi Briggs Committee. A document was produced, but the minions in the corridors of power refused to pass it on to the then President for his consideration and approval. Since then no tangible outcome has been recorded in spite of the constructive recommendations of the Committee.

    “Our union, therefore, demands that all renegotiations of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement be rounded off based on the Nimi Briggs Committee resolutions.

    It may interest you to also know that the salaries of Academics in Nigeria have not been reviewed since 2009. That is over fourteen years of being on a static salary structure despite the country’s increasing inflation rate.

    “Aside from the raging inflation, we invite you to compare the wages of our counterparts in other African countries and offer your judgment. It is on record that most of our bright students are turning down the opportunities to join the teaching profession simply because Lecturers in Nigeria are not well-paid. By the time we retire, who will teach our children?

    Our Union maintains that based on the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2012 and 2013 and the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2017, the revitalisation of our public universities remains a top priority if Nigerian universities and academics would remain competitive.

    “Our union insists that the work for which the government has withheld our 3½ months salaries, based on the ‘no work, no pay’ policy of government, had been done. Therefore, the government has no reason to keep the salaries of university academics.

    The continued reluctance of the government in this direction is a naked invitation to a situation that may not argue well for university education in Nigeria.

    “Our members are so resolved and strong on this and should be paid without any further delay.

    It is worrisome and incomprehensible that the Earned Academic Allowances captured in the 2023 Federal Budget have not been paid. The union wonders at the illegality in not paying the EAA even when the budget year in which it was captured has elapsed.

    “Nigerians should ask the federal government where the budgeted funds for university workers’ EAA are currently domiciled. We call on the federal government to release our EAA without any further delay, as the non-implementation of this aspect of the budget is questionable and verges on illegality and its concomitant corrupt practices.

    “We observes the government’s failure to remit third-party deductions, including pension contributions and cooperative society dues. This is due to the incompatibility of IPPIS with the university system. We therefore call for the immediate remittance of these deductions to the appropriate quarters. Failure to release the third-party deductions is a clear violation of the Trade Union Act that governs the deduction of such funds.

    The introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has led to unacceptable inconsistencies, including the non-payment of salaries of bona fide academic staff for some years and months, and academic staff on sabbatical, adjunct, and other contractual engagements that make the academic system unique.

    Our union maintains that the proliferation of public universities without provisions for adequate funding and infrastructure does not auger well for our university system. Therefore, we call on the government to put a moratorium on creating more universities without substance.

    “If the FGN sets its priorities right, all these could be resolved amicably, without any industrial action. But the truth is that the government appears to have been treating these issues with some fun, which our union finds unacceptable.

    “As a union, we have therefore resolved to engage the media to sensitize the public on the failure of the government to address all the outstanding issues with ASUU. Our union remains committed to advocating for the rights and welfare of academic staff and the overall improvement of the Nigerian University System.

    We, therefore, call on the government to take immediate and decisive actions to address these critical issues.

    “We are also telling government and the public that if in the next two weeks nothing is done, ASUU is going to embark on yet another long strike and  the students should blame the Federal Government for that,” the Chairman concluded.

    Also speaking during the protest, the  Zonal Cordinator of ASUU, Owerri zone,  Prof. Dennis Aribodor, lamented that the rate of taxation by the Federal Government on  the meagre salaries paid to lecturers was unbearable.

    He urged the Federal Government to avoid a total shutdown in the Nigeria Varsities.

    It was gathered that the protest was accompany with placards with various inscriptions such as; FG stop deceiving Nigerians, FG pay us 3-years of arrears and salaries, lecturers dignity matters, blame FG for another long strike, pay us fairly, stop suffocating University lecturers, support quality education, FG allow lecturers to breathe, among others.

  • ASUU accuses FG of planning to politicize public universities in Nigeria

    ASUU accuses FG of planning to politicize public universities in Nigeria

    By Ovat Abeng 

    The Acadenic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Owerri zone, has accused the Nigeria government of planning to annihilate public universities in favour of the commercialization of university education via private universities owned by politically exposed individuals in the country.

    The accusation was contained in a release signed and made available to Journalists shortly after a press conference held at ASUU Secretariat, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, on Monday, by the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Owerri Zone, Prof Dennis Aribodor.

    According to Prof Aribodor, the essence of the press conference is to alert the public of the Federal and State Governments’ continued and consistent ploys to undermine the existence and integrity of the public universities in Nigeria through their systemic neglect, acute under-funding and bastardization of university autonomy leading to the inability of Nigerian universities to compete globally.

    “It is also to inform the public on how ASUU in her struggles over the years had engaged previous and present governments with the resolve to prevent universities from the current gradual slide into total collapse.

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    “There is no gain saying the fact that Nigeria University system is currently facing the most crucial existential threats occasioned by governments’ total neglect and abandonment.

    “It is on this note that ASUU Owerri Zone is crying out through this press conference against governments concerted efforts to annihilate public universities in Nigeria in favour of the commercialization of university education via private universities owned by politically exposed individuals in the country.

    “The FGN – ASUU Agreement signed in October, 2009 summed up the four key issues as follows: Conditions of service, Funding, University Autonomy and Academic Freedom and other matters related to regulations, working environment, etc. This agreement was meant to arrest brain drain, attract best brains to the Nigerian University system from across the world and to position Nigerian public universities for global competitiveness.

    “It is worrisome to note that this agreement that was designed to be renegotiated after three years (2012) did not start until 6th March, 2017 and is yet to be completed till date (fifteen years after the agreement was signed). Recall that the federal government employed the collective bargaining agreement principle and inaugurated Prof. Munzali Jubril’s Renegotiation Committee in December 2020. The same government jettisoned the report of the Prof. Munzali Jubril’s Committee submitted in May, 2021 and reconstituted the Prof. Nimi Brigg’s Renegotiation Committee to renegotiate the renegotiated report with ASUU. Prof. Brigg’s Committee submitted its report to the federal government but was abandoned by the same federal government through the instrumentality and evil machination of the then Minister of Labour,  Dr. Chris Ngige. The Tinubu-led Federal Government took over about one year ago and it is surprising that it has not addressed this particular issue of Renegotiation even when officials in the present government intervened during our last struggle. We therefore call for the conclusion of the Renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement so as to maintain industrial harmony across Nigeria public universities that house over 95% of Nigerian undergraduates. Gentlemen of the press, recall that the non-signing of Prof Nimi Brigg’s Committee Report of 2022 has left the university lecturers to remain in same salary structure for the past 15 years. This scenario has pauperized Nigeria university workers with meagre take-home pay that cannot actually take them home. The current pay of a Professor at bar is about $500 per month which is a mockery when compared with countries in West Africa not to talk of the entire African continent and the world. Universities are international centres and Nigerian public universities should be seen to be so.The mass exodus (Japa syndrome) of academics from the Nigerian public universities for greener pasture portends a great danger not only to the universities but to the development of Nigeria, and should be urgently arrested.

    “Also the federal government under Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee on Needs Assessment of all Nigerian public (federal and state) universities as stepping stone towards revitalization of government-owned universities. The Committee recommended an immediate and massive injection of a total of N1.3 trillion to arrest the infrastructural decay in the institutions. That government commenced the implementation of the recommendations by releasing the first tranche of N200 billion in 2013. Unfortunately since then, only a paltry sum of N50 billion has been released till date by the government. This is unacceptable.

    In the case of withheld salaries, gentlemen of the press, you can agree with ASUU that the ILO Conventions guarantees the right of trade unions to use strike action as a means of demanding for what is due to their members.

    “The continuous withholding of the three and half months of withheld salaries of lecturers in federal universities and 4-12 months of some lecturers in Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) as a result of ASUU national struggle  for the revitalization of universities in 2020 and 2022, despite the fact that the lecturers had since completed all their duties affected during the strike is unacceptable and should be urgently addressed.

    On the issue of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), it is sad to note that the Federal Government is yet to pay the backlog of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) in federal universities while the Anambra and Imo State Governments have refused to pay EAA to their lecturers in COOU and Imo State University (IMSU), respectively as obtainable in state universities in other parts of the country. The neglect of lecturers in COOU and IMSU is unprecedented.  It is heartbreaking that lecturers in COOU who have given their all to the services of the universities retire without pension. They are left to go home and wait for their death. In both COOU and IMSU, the current wage award of 25% and 35% to public university workers, consequential minimum wage increase, palliative for fuel subsidy removal and arrears of CONUASS are yet to receive governments’ attention. Till this moment, the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2020 which provided for mainstreaming of EAA into monthly salaries from is yet to be implemented in the state-owned universities in Anambra and Imo States.

    “For the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), despite the Presidential pronouncement and directive for the removal of Universities from IPPIS, the cabals in the Federal Government particularly in the Federal Ministry of Finance who are illegally benefiting from IPPIS have refused to implement the presidential directive. The amputation of salaries of our members has persisted. The outstanding payment of promotion arrears and consequential adjustment in minimum wage remained unattended to. ASUU has continuously rejected IPPIS because it is a corrupt payroll system imposed on the Tertiary Institutions by the Buhari led Administration which grossly violates the Autonomy of our Universities. The Union is worried by the bureaucratic bottlenecks preventing the exit of Tertiary Institutions from the discredited IPPIS. The Union therefore calls on the President to ensure that his directive in this regard is speedily executed. The Visitor to IMSU is called upon to remove IMSU from TSA because it is an aberration and erosion of university autonomy.

    “Non-reinstatement of Illegally dissolved governing councils of federal universities and the non-reconstitution of COOU council. All the federal universities in Nigeria were allowed to operate without governing councils for one whole year. Similarly, COOU has been left to operate without Council for over two years. These are unacceptable aberrations, which must be avoided because of illegalities associated with them. It took a NEC resolution to down tools  to force the present government to reconstitute new councils in all the federal universities few days ago. The illegal dissolution and delay in reconstitution of governing councils of public universities are fragrant violation of the Laws establishing these universities and erosion of the University Autonomy as enshrined in the Universities Miscellaneous Act of 1993 and 2012. The implication is that all actions taken by the university administrations that fall within the jurisdiction of governing councils within the period are illegal and can be declared a nullity by the courts.

    “ASUU Position On Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a Press Release on the 30th June, 2023 vehemently rejected the introduction of Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) in Nigerian Universities describing it as an imposition by National Universities Commission (NUC). ASUU noted that it was inexplicable that the NUC’s pre-packaged 70% CCMAS contents are being imposed on the Nigerian University System leaving University Senates, which are statutorily responsible for Academic programme development, to work on only 30%. ASUU posited that CCMAS portends serious danger to quality University education in Nigeria. It is an erosion of University Autonomy and Academic Freedom which the Union has advocated and struggled to defend over the years. ASUU position has not changed. Therefore CCMAS remains rejected by ASUU and its imposition should be resisted by the various university Senates whose function is directly being taken away by NUC.

    “Promotion in IMSU, one of the pressing issues in Imo State University is the phenomenon of promotion without financial benefits since 2016. Staff members are left in a predicament where their new rank does not translate into corresponding salary adjustments. This results in highly qualified academics, who have dutifully completed the required three-year promotion cycles, get promoted but continue to receive lower salary despite being promoted to higher ranks. For instance, Senior Lecturers promoted to Readers and through to Professors continue to receive the salary of Senior Lecturers, causing significant financial strain and diminishing motivation. The process of promotion itself is marred by undue delays, leaving many staff members in prolonged periods of uncertainty and financial strain. Even when promotions are finally granted, the arrears associated with these advancements remain unpaid, compounding the financial hardships faced by the academic staff.

    “Again on the continuous harassment of  ASUU members, it is disheartening to note the unending crisis bedeviling some Universities in Nigeria namely, Federal University of Technology (FUTO) Owerri, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Igbariam, Kogi State University (KSU) Ayingba, Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Abakaliki, Ambrose Alli University (AAU) Ekpoma and others, where our members have been subjected to inhuman treatment, harassed, humiliated, salaries withheld, and sack for unjustifiable reasons. ASUU therefore calls on the Visitors and stakeholders to the affected Universities to urgently wade into the situations and reverse such injustices orchestrated by the the Vice Chancellors of the affected Universities to our members. Injury to one is injury to all,” Aribodor concluded.

    It was gathered that the ASUU Owerri zone made up of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Igbariam (COOU), Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), Imo State University Owerri (IMSU), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka (NAU).

  • ASUU offers 30 UNIZIK indigent students N1.5m scholarship

    ASUU offers 30 UNIZIK indigent students N1.5m scholarship

    By Ovat Abeng

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has offered 30 students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, who are indigent but brilliant, scholarships to support their studies at the university.

    The beneficiaries are all undergraduates, including one living with disabilities, and spread across levels, pursuing different courses of study.

    Addressing the beneficiaries at the ASUU-UNIZIK conference hall, on Tuesday, the Chairman of the branch, Prof. Kingsley Ubaoji, said each student will be supported with the sum of fifty thousand each (N50,000).

    “The union selected the beneficiaries based on their applications and interviews conducted for them to know they truly deserved the award.

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    According to him, the scholarship award is a directive from the national body of ASUU as a way of lessening the financial burden of some indigent but brilliant students across the nation’s public universities.

    “The national body is equally give out scholarship of N200,000 each to two Unizik indigent students.

    “Our job here as an academy Union, is not only to be embarking on strike but also to assist students from less privilege homes who are intelligent, to achieved their professional dreams.

    “Over one hundred students applied for the scholarship but only thirty of them scale through. We are making the gesture a quarterly programme to encouraged the students.

    “I urged the students to engaged the money on genuine businesses that will generate revenue for them in future,” Ubaoji admonished.

  • For 15 years, we are still on same salary structure – ASUU Tells Tinubu

    For 15 years, we are still on same salary structure – ASUU Tells Tinubu

    By Ovat Abeng

    Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Owerri Zone, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene on the welfare of members amidst the current economic situation in Nigeria, noting that members still earning same salary since 2009.

    The Union made the call in a communique signed by the Owerri Zonal coordinator, Prof Dennis Aribodor and made available  to Journalists during a press conference held at the  Unizik -ASUU complex Awka, on Monday.

    They urged the President not to allow politicians commercialized the University system in the country.

    According to the Union, “The focus of this press conference is the state of our Union’s engagements with the Federal and various State Governments on how to reposition our public universities for national development sequel to the FGN-ASUU Agreement of 2009.

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    “The Union is worried that both the Buhari and the Tinubu-led administrations have jettisoned the main elements of the 2009 agreement and other lingering issues that led to the nationwide strike action of February-October 2022.

    “This conference is intended to update Nigerians on developments since the suspension of our last national strike action on Friday,14th October,2022,and our engagements with the current administration since its inception.

    “ASUU is a patriotic organisation committed to national development and should be taken very seriously when she talks.

    “The renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009 has dragged for seven years since 2017.

    “The reluctance of the Fedeal Government to conclude the renegotiation is the reason why the Government committee has had three Chairmen from Wale Babalakin through Munzali Jibril to Nimi Briggs. This means that academic staff in our universities have been on the same salary structure for 15 years.

    We urge the Bola Tinubu administration to speedily put a final closure to the renegotiation by directing the upward review in view of current economic realities, and signing of the draft agreement reached with the Nimi Briggs committee.

    “The most obvious implication of the truncation of the renegotiation of the Agreement is that university teachers in Nigeria have been on the same salary regime since 2009 when the value of the naira to the dollar was N120 as against N1800 today. The signing of the Nimi Briggs draft agreement will be a concrete step towards restoring the dignity of the academia and ensuring industrial harmony and peace on our campuses.

    Withholding of members Salaries, the Union, argued that, “The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions guarantee the right of trade unions to use strike action as a means of pressing for its demands as a last
    resort.The immediate past Minister of Labour and employment, Chris Ngige, in pursuance of his personal animus towards ASUU engaged in the weaponization of hunger and poverty by withholding the “seven and half months” salaries of academic staff in Federal Universities. Some Visitors of state universities cued in leading to the withholding of varying months of salaries of academic staff in state universities.

    “The most ignoble act of the then Minister of Labour was the pro rata salaries paid to academic staff in October 2022 sequel to the suspension of the strike. The step taken by the Tinubu administration to pay four months of the withheld salaries is a step in the right direction. Consequently we urge the Tinubu administration to put a closure to the agitations surrounding the withheld salaries by clearing the remaining three and half months. That struggle by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, instigated by the failure of government to honour agreements, was after all in the national interest.

    “Meeting ASUU’s demand in this regard is a panacea for industrial peace in our universities.

    “Compatriots of the press, the Union also draws your attention to the fact that the Federal Government has lately been evasive on its commitment to the payment of the backlog of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), part of which was captured in the 2023 National Budget for Federal Universities.

    “The Memorandum of Action (MoA) of December 2020 between FGN and ASUU captured the mainstreaming of the Earned Academic Allowances into the salaries of lecturers with effect from 2022 while the arrears were to be cleared prior to the mainstreaming.

    “The scheduled payment of the arrears was aborted, while the mainstreaming of the Earned Academic Allowances which was supposed to commence in 2022 has remained a mirage in both Federal and most State Universities. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

    On the Illegal dissolution of Governing Councils, the Union said the Governing Council is the highest decision making body of the University charged with the general control of the institution, its affairs and functions,including finances and property. The illegal dissolution of the Governing Councils of Federal Universities and some State Universities, since June 2023 (over 8 months), constitutes an unbridled attack on and the erosion of the autonomy of the universities in violation of the extant laws of the universities. It has caused a major setback in the administration of universities with serious adverse consequences. Without Governing Councils, universities are hamstrung and at the mercy of unscrupulous Vice Chancellors and their cohorts in the Federal and State Ministries of Education, who illegally assume the function of the administration of the universities by awarding contracts, approving promotions and recruitment.These anomalies and aberrations are abominable and totally unacceptable to our Union.

    “The Union, therefore, calls on Federal and State Governments to immediately reverse the dissolution of Governing Councils where they were dissolved without serving out their tenures, and to without further delay reconstitute Governing Councils whose tenures have expired.
    V. Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System
    Gentlemen of the press, you are aware that the President Tinubu administration has announced the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) – a corrupt salary payment system imposed on Federal Universities by the Buhari administration. Our Union consistently rejected the payment platform because it grossly eroded the autonomy of our universities. However, our Union is worried that some elements inside and outside the ambiguity that currently surrounds that transition out of IPPIS to the so-called “new IPPIS” with which January salaries were paid a few days ago. Our position is that Government should revert to quarterly releases of university funds to the various universities to enable them design and implement their salary payment plans. In addition, Government should release the promotion arrears of academic staff in various universities dating as far back as 2013 and defray the outstanding salaries of all academics who were unjustly denied their salaries arising from the obnoxious imposition of IPPIS.

    “We also note with serious concern the efforts by the National Universities Commission, currently, taking over the responsibilities of the senates of our universities with the imposition of the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standard (CCMAS) with effect from the 2022/2023 academic session.Consequently,we urge all our university Senates to resist the surreptitious moves by NUC to erode the powers of our senates over academic programmes in our respective universities.The NUC cannot and should not regulate itself.

    “Proliferation of Universities,
    Gentlemen of the press, you are aware that proliferation of Universities was one of the issues that led to the strike actions of 2020and 2022, and part of the MoA signed by ASUU and FGN stressed the need to review the NUC Act to make it more potent in arresting the reckless and excessive establishment of univerities.The review has not been done.

    “The massive and reckless manner by which federal and state governments are establishing universities without making adequate preparations for their funding should be brought to a halt. Federal and State Governments should focus on adequately funding existing universities to enhance their capacity to admit more students.

    “Victimization and Threats at Federal University of Technology, Owerri Compatriots of the Press may wish to note that the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), and her collaborators have continued with the persecution of our members. The attacks on committed ASUU members at FUTO came on the heels of the Union’s principled stance against the illegal appointment of Dr Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami as a Professor in that University while not qualified for the position and while serving as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Union has received reports of attempts by the Vice Chancellor,Prof.(Ms.) Nnenna N. Oti, to deny our members the right to unionize on campus. The Vice Chancellor whimsically stopped union leaders from attending statutory meetings of Senate and university committees. We note that statutory senate meetings and other University committee meetings are outside the union roles of our union leaders. This clearly is an act of victimization.

    We reaffirm our support of NEC condemnation of the action of the FUTO administration and urge the Vice Chancellor of FUTO to take the path of honour and reverse the illegal appointment of Dr. Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami.

    “We call on the Minister of Education and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on Prof.Nnenna Oti, the Vice Chancellor of FUTO, to respect the Laws of FUTO and stop persecuting our members for insisting that the right thing should be done in that university.

    “However, our Union is wooried that some elements inside and outside govermment may be planning to undermine the goverment directive in view of the ambiguity thut currently surrounds that transition out of IPPIS to the so-called is that Goverment should revert to quarterly releases of university funds to the plans. In addition, Government should release the promotion arrears of academic salaries of all academics who were unjustly denied their salaries arising from the imposition of IPPIS.

    “Proliferation of Universities,
    gentlemen of the press, you are aware that proliferation of Universities was one of the issues that led to the strike actions of 2020 and 2022, and part of the Mo.A signed by ASUU and FGN stressed the need to review the NUC Act to make it more potent in arresting the reckless and excessive establishment of universities.The review has not been done. The massive and reckless manner by which federal and state governments are establishing universities without making adequate preparations for their funding should be brought to a halt. Federal and State Governments should focus on adequately funding existing universities to enhance their capacity to admit more students.

    On the victimization and threats at Federal University of Technology,Owerri, the Union noted that the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology,Owerri (FUTO),and her collaborators have continued with the persecution of our members.The attacks on committed ASUU members at FUTO came on the heels of the Union’s principled stance against the illegal appointment of Dr Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami as a Professor in that University while not qualified for the position and while serving as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Union has received reports of attempts by the Vice Chancellor,Prof. (Mrs.) Nnenna N. Oti, to deny our members the right to unionize on campus. The Vice Chancellor whimsically stopped union leaders from attending statutory meetings of Senate and university committees. We note that statutory senate meetings and other University committee meetings are outside the union roles of our union leaders. This clearly is an act of victimization. We reaffirm our support of NEC condemnation of the action of the FUTO administration and urge the Vice Chancellor of FUTO to take the path of honour and reverse the illegal appointment of Dr. Isa Ibrahim Ali Pantami. We call on the Minister of Education and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on Prof.Nnenna Oti, the Vice Chancellor of FUTO, to respect the Laws of FUTO and stop persecuting our members for insisting that the right thing should be done in that university.

    On TETFund Intervention, ASUU will stop at nothing to resist the increasing unethical moves to fritter away the TETFund intervention funds within or outside our universities.

    “Under-funding of Public Universities by Federal and State Governments Funding for revitalization of public universities has been central in the struggle of our Union and it remains a cardinal demand in all our agreements and Memoranda of Understanding and action with governments. Both the Federal and State Governments are still guilty of poor budgetary allocation to Education. These grossly poor allocation also affect the welfare issues of our members.

    “For instance, in Imo State University,staff are bedeviled with a plethora of lingering welfare issues that include but not limited to selective payment and non-payment of arrears of salaries,nonpayment of pensions of retired staff arising from non-remittance of deducted pension contribution from May 2016 to date, delayed promotion and non-payment of promotion arrears and the non-payment of the earned academic allowances from 2009 to date. The inclusion of the university in the State’s Treasury Single Account that has led to the payment of the salaries of staff of the university from the Government House in a clear violation of university autonomy with adverse consequences on our members.

    In conclusion, members of the press, above are issues that demand immediate attention from both the Federal and State Governments so as to guarantee industrial
    harmony in our university campuses.

    “It is our hope that the Tinubu led administration and
    Visitors to State Universities should urgently do the needful so as to reposition our universities to fulfil their mandates in nation building, the communique ends.

    The ASUU Owerri Zone comprises; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Chukwumemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State University and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture.

  • No-work-no-pay policy obnoxious, breach of labour laws – ASUU

    No-work-no-pay policy obnoxious, breach of labour laws – ASUU

    By Christian Njoku

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government’s controversial no-work-no-pay policy was obnoxious and a breach of labour laws.

    The assertion was made by Ms Happiness Uduk, Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Calabar Zone during a press conference in Calabar.

    Uduk called on the Federal Government to pay without delay, its members their varying months withheld salaries, noting that ASUU, like any other union under International Labour Organisation (ILO) conditions, can use strike as a tool to get its demand.

    She said the 2022 strike was unwillingly suspended on the heels of interventions and promises made both formally and informally by well-meaning Nigerians including Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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    “Denying ASUU members their salaries for the period of being on strike and for work that has now been completed is against Labour best practices and is further heightening the already tensed environment.

    “It is clear that the said salaries may not measure a quarter of the then value now and no one sees no reason in not paying us, if it is not part of the grand plan to further pauperized the Nigerian academic.

    “As we speak, there are reports of the payment of two out of the over seven months salaries owed our members, ASUU, therefore unequivocally insist on the total payment of the withheld salaries and en bloc without further delay,” she said.

    Speaking further, Uduk said the Nigerian academic was the worst paid in the world as a professor at bar earns less than 300 dollars adding that even when the draft agreement was put-up, the value of naira to dollar was $120 but today it is $1,500.

    She said the Federal Government had in 2020 promised in a Memorandum of Association, (MOA) signed with the union to mainstream the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) into the salaries of lecturers, while in 2021, it would pay the backlog.

    She noted that till date no payment was made except that in 2023, a part of it was captured in the national budget for federal universities but not paid.

    “The union hopes that government will not allow disruption of the academic calendar over a matter for which budgetary allocation had been made,” she said.