Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Chapter, Awka, Anambra State, staged a protest on Thursday against the Nigerian government’s reluctance to pay them for the eight months they were on strike.
The angry academics barricaded the Enugu-Onitsha road in Awka, the state capital, in protest of the half-pay they received after calling off the strike in October.
The government reportedly offered to compensate the lecturers for the strike time during the negotiations that led to the termination of the strike following the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
NEWS FLASH: ASUU Receives Full Pay For November, But Arrears Not Paid
However, after the strike was called off in October, ASUU members were paid half their salaries beginning on the day the strike ended. This has since sparked further controversy, with disgruntled academics threatening to sit-at-home or go on another extended strike.
Members of the ASUU UNIZIK branch assembled at the Union Secretariat on Thursday, then marched down to the University gate along the Enugu-Onitsha highway and barricaded the busy route for a few minutes to protest the government’s decision.
Protesting lecturers held posters with messages such as “Nigerian professors’ salaries are less than $500,” “No to commercialization of Nigerian public universities,” and “Stop casualisation of Nigerian academics,” among others.
The chairman of ASUU’s Unizik chapter, Comrade Stephen Ufoaroh, told reporters shortly after the protest that, in addition to the current issue of hal salary payment, the protest was intended to remind the Nigerian government to implement the agreement reached with the union following the suspension of its strike in 2020.
ASUU-EBSU Protests Unpaid Salary And Accuses FG Of Insensitivity
Ufoaroh demanded that the Nigerian Government consider the re-negotiated document of the 2009 condition of services of its members, a payment platform for University workers to all public Universities in Nigeria, an increase in funds to the education sector, particularly for public universities, the white paper publication of the Judicial panel report to various Universities to enable us to understand what the reports are all about, and that the Federal Government enac
In his words, Ufoaroh said, “As I speak to you, the intervention of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, has not yearned for any positive resort. We are yet to see the outcome of his intervention.
“What the Federal Government has been saying all this while is still under promising note.
“We suspended the strike because of individual intervention and the Court of Appeal Judgement.
In Response To Unpaid Salary, UNN ASUU Instructs Members To Withhold Results
“We are using this protest to ask the masses to appeal to the government to do the needful now, to avert a further crisis in the nation’s universities.”
In a message of solidarity with the lecturers, UNIZIK Vice Chancellor Prof. Charles Esimone said his heart bled because of the appalling conditions in Nigeria’s education system.
Esimone lamented that “Nigerian professors’ salary is currently less than 500 dollars. That is terrible. The government knows that in terms of knowledge and human capacity, Nigerian lecturers cannot be compared to other places in the world. So why should they be subjected to this deplorable condition they found themselves?”
Follow us on Facebook
Post Disclaimer
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.