Students of the University of Jos who have resumed already will have to wait indefinitely as the University's chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU on Friday, issued a directive ordering its members to remain at home indefinitely while waiting for the federal government to pay their withheld salaries.
The ASUU, UNIJOS branch announced this in a statement signed by the branch's chairman, Professor Lazarus Maigoro, and made available to The Punch.
The union said its members consider the payment of part salary to them by the federal government as an insult.
Image: The Punch
The statement partly reads, “One of the issues agreed at the meeting was that 50% of the backlog of eight months arrears of our withheld salaries will be paid to our members immediately but as at the time of writing this press release, only 17 days prorated October salary was paid to our members by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“Having stayed for about nine months running now, our members in the University of Jos considered this an insult to them by the Accountant General of the Federation.
“Is the Accountant General of the Federation answerable to the Minister of Labour? So, if today the Minister of Agriculture directs the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the salaries of the staff of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have been on strike for over a year, will he obey that?
“We wonder why Ngige is keen
about withholding the salaries of ASUU members because the staff of some Agricultural Research Institutes has been on strike for almost a year but they have been receiving their salaries regularly. Is this policy only for ASUU members?
“We are also aware that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, wrote a memo to the Accountant General asking him to pay our members only from the day we suspended the strike.
"By this singular act, the Minister of Labour and Employment has casualized the work of the University Lecturers, unfortunately.
“This further creates doubts in our minds as to whether the understanding reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives on some of the issues will be implemented at all
by those who are saddled with the responsibility of doing so to avoid further needless strikes.
“From all indications, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has personalized the matter between him and our union and is on a mission for vendetta.
“It has become crystal clear now that he wasn’t happy that the House of Representatives brokered a truce on some of the issues we went on strike for and has gone behind to undermine it.
“It is also very clear to us now why he shamelessly walked out on the leadership of the House of Representatives at one of the meetings with all stakeholders to the glare of all Nigerians because he never wanted any form of resolution to be reached on the issues being discussed.
“Given the bottleneck placed by Ngige towards paying our members the backlog of our salaries, the congress of ASUU University of Jos met today November 4, 2022, and resolved to stay at home, though not on strike until the backlog of the withheld salaries is paid.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our members are back to work, willing and ready to work but are unable to work. Based on the revised academic calendar for
the 2020/2021 session approved by the senate of the University, lectures should have started already but the challenge of lack of payment of salaries has constrained our members from going to the classroom to teach.
“What this implies is that the students who have resumed already will have to wait indefinitely while we wait for our withheld salaries to be paid to us”.
ASUU National President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke confirmed the payment of half salaries to university lecturers in a conversation with The Punch in Abuja saying "We are going to summon a meeting.”
Education
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