In a move to end the seven months closure of public varsities in the country, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, yesterday, said government could only afford 23.5 per cent salary increase for lecturers, while a 35 per cent increment will be enjoyed by professors, as its last effort to break the industrial dispute between varsity teachers and the Federal Government.
This was fallout of the meeting between government, pro-chancellors and vice chancellors of federal universities aimed at finding lasting solutions to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja.
According to The Guardian, the union has been on strike since February 14 over revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of university lecturers’ salaries, among others. Amid the strike, government had invoked the ‘No work, No pay’ policy.
The Minister, who noted that President Muhammadu Buhari warned against signing agreements that the government will not be able to meet, said the only issue yet to be resolved with ASUU is the position of the law on ‘No work, No pay.’
He said: “The Federal Government can only afford a 23.5 per cent salary increase for all category of the workforce in federal universities, except for the professorial cadre, which will enjoy a 35 per cent upward review.
“Henceforth, allowances that pertain to ad-hoc duties of the academic and non-academic staff shall be paid as and when due by the Governing Councils of universities to which such services are rendered and to the staff who perform them.
“Also, a sum of N150 billion shall be provided for in the 2023 budget as funds for the revitalisation of federal universities, to be disbursed to the institutions in the first quarter of the year, and a sum of N50 billion shall be provided for in the 2023 budget for the payment of outstanding arrears of earned academic allowances, to be paid in the first quarter of the year.”
At the meeting, the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) urged government to pay university professors N800,000 as against the N1.2 million negotiated by the Nimi Briggs committee. This recommendation will represent a 50 per cent salary increase offer, as against the 23 per cent increase being proposed by the Federal Government.
While making efforts to end the strike, the committee further set up a sustainable peace team of elders to resolve the lingering disagreement. Secretary-General of CVCNU and co-ordinator of the team, Prof. Michael Faborode, said their goal was not to allow the current impasse in the ASUU strike continue, as its toll on all stakeholders and the nation had become colossal.
Faborode said to arrive at the final list, no serving vice chancellor or pro-chancellor is included and membership was based on the record of service as recorded by the CVCNU.
The Minister insisted that government has made every effort to resolve the concerns ASUU is clinging on to for the protracted strike.
He said: “We have done the best we can in the circumstance. After inter-ministerial consultations and rounds of hard negotiations with all government agencies, we interacted with the unions. I personally, gave it all it required to resolve the current challenges.
“I met the unions anywhere and everywhere possible with facts, figures and with absolute sincerity. For example, I directly met with ASUU leadership in my house, in my office and at the ASUU Secretariat on several different occasions, in addition to other formal engagements going on.
“To be frank with all the unions, especially with ASUU, one major issue over which government and the unions could not reach amicable agreement was the issue of the law on ‘No work, No pay.’ In the spirit of sincerity, government made it clear that it would not break the law and lecturers would not be paid for the period they stayed away from work,” he said.
