Deborah Akinyosoye
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday, lamented what it said was the stagnation of its members, claiming that Nigerian university lecturers have been on the same salary for the past 15 years.
Addressing newsmen in Benin City, Edo State, the Benin Zone of the union said the Federal Government has failed to use the one month window given it to resolve its 2009 agreement, warning that a fresh nationwide strike was inevitable.
According to its Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Monday Igbafen, they would be awaiting further directives from their national leadership.
Flanked by leaders of the various universities that make up the zone, Igbafen said: “It is not only regrettable but sad to inform you that the Federal Government has again demonstrated a blatant unwillingness to quickly and holistically resolve all the outstanding issues to restore the desired industrial harmony in our public universities, and in the overall interest of our students.
“While some gaps may have been closed in some non-monetary aspects of the agreement, the salary and conditions of service components remain a sore point that needs a radical approach to stem the impending crisis in the system.
“We have rejected the proposed salary increment by government because it is a mere drop in the ocean that is incapable of achieving the desired reversal of the brain drain syndrome currently bedeviling university education in the country.
“The most obvious implication of the refusal of the government to conclude this negotiation is that university teachers in Nigeria have continued with the same salary regime of 2009, when the value of the naira to a dollar was N120, and this is added to the fact that salaries in other sectors have since been reviewed upward twice or more.
“It is sad to note that what a professor at the bar earns in today’s Nigeria is less than $400 per month, which is a scandalous under-valuation of Nigerian scholars. To continue to remain on the same salary regime for more than 15 years without a meaningful review is not only wicked and inhuman but also a catalyst for resistance, industrial disharmony and brain drain.”
He said the most worrisome was the fact that the actions and pronouncements of government officials, including the Minister of Education, were antithetical to a genuine and speedy resolution of the issues.
Igbafen said all indices point to the fact that Nigeria’s revenue profile was on the increase and so the right time for the Federal Government to conclude the issues concerning universities in the country.
“We are not unaware of the 2022 data from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, which evidently confirmed that states received a total of N3.92 trillion, while the figure for 2024 was N5.81 trillion, showing a staggering increase of over 62 per cent. Similarly, our union is aware that the Federal Government received N3.42 trillion in generated revenue in 2022 and N4.65 trillion in 2024, representing a humongous increase of over 70 per cent.
“Consequently, as a union, we believe that it is more of a lack of political will rather than economic factors that has been undermining the resolution of this renegotiation process.
“Benin Zone of ASUU is ready for the directive of the NEC of our union to resume the suspended strike action at the expiration of the given one-month window.”