The disclosure made last week by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Emmanuel Osodeke, that 84 of its members had died between May and August this year due to economic hardship and unpaid salaries is an alarming one.
The Federal Government must stop its rigmarole and honour the long-standing agreement with ASUU to prevent further crises.
Osodeke, during an interview on Channels Television’s socio-political programme ‘Inside Sources’, stated, “In the past three months, from May to August 2024, Nigerian universities lost 84 academics to death because of what our people are going through.”
He criticised the Federal Government’s “no-work, no-pay” policy, which affects salaries during strikes, adding, “Despite this crisis, you are holding somebody’s three-and-a-half or more salaries on the no-work, no-pay. People are trying to survive, and everything is gone now.”
He further called for increased funding for university education and adequate compensation for academics for the sector to function optimally adding that Nigerian lecturers cannot compete globally without better financial support.
For years, several ASUU members across the country have protested and asked the Federal Government to meet their demands, and implement the re-negotiations of the 2009 agreements reached with it to prevent the resumption of the suspended industrial action, all to no avail.
Since the last industrial action was suspended in October 2022, the Federal Government up until now has failed to honour the agreements which include the removal of ASUU from IPPS, payment of outstanding academic allowances, revitalisation fund, and promotion arrears as well as withheld salaries, among others. This injustice towards the country’s academics is unacceptable and should be redressed.
Previous strikes in the last four years have followed the Federal Government’s failure to implement the agreement and adopt the University Transparency and Accountability Solution for salaries and allowances. Other niggles are the failure to release the Earned Academic Allowances for lecturers, improve welfare, fund university transformation, and academic autonomy.
Public universities in the country receive N15 million monthly from the Federal Government as running costs. However, with the rise in electricity costs which has risen to between N200 million and N300 million, according to Osodeke, most universities have been forced to channel their internally generated revenue to the running of their institutions.
The strike actions by ASUU over the years have resulted in universities being shut down, disrupting academic activities, and preventing students from accessing information resources. The culminating effects of these drawbacks have caused the ratings of Nigerian public universities to tank and diminished the worth of tertiary institutions.
Last month, ASUU again issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, demanding the resolution of several lingering issues, including renegotiation of the 2009 agreement and the release of withheld salaries from 2022.
While the government’s stony silence echoes, lecturers across the country, many of whom have families to cater to, are needlessly subjected to the harsh grip of economic hardship, financial difficulties, poor welfare, and an inability to afford healthcare.
It will be unfortunate if the Federal Government, like in previous years, allows ASUU to embark on a strike that will shut down the system. The Federal Government should demonstrate its priority for education and honour the agreement it has with ASUU. The government should start by cutting down on luxuries and waste elsewhere to clear the unpaid lecturers’ salaries.
