The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that since the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the removal of public tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, President Bola Tinubu has failed to implement the approval.
The Union revealed this at a press conference jointly addressed by the branch chairpersons of ASUU-UDUS and his counterpart of the ASUU-SSU, Prof. Muhammad Nurudeen Almustapha, and Dr. Saidu Isa Abubakar in Sokoto on Saturday.
“The Tinubu administration announced the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) since December 2023, but to our chagrin, universities are still being paid through the IPPIS platform.
“What has gone wrong with Presidential directives? ASUU has consistently rejected the payment platform because it grossly erodes the autonomy of our universities. Moreover, the union is worried that some elements inside and outside the government may be planning to undermine the government’s directive given the ambiguity that currently surrounds the transition out of IPPIS.
“As canvassed at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the National Universities Commission (NUC) on 11th January 2024, ASUU’s position is very clear: Government should revert to quarterly releases of university funds to enable them to design and implement their salary payment plans.
“This is the hallmark of a truly autonomous university system as obtained in the 1960s and 1970s,” the statement reads.
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Expressing its dismay by the Federal government’s refusal to sign the Nimi Briggs renegotiated draft document as a sign of goodwill and assured hope for Nigeria’s public universities.
It further said that in spite of promises by the Federal government, only four out of the seven and a half months withheld salaries have so far been released.
Read the full text below:
TEXT OF JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF UNIVERSITIES (ASUU), SOKOTO STATE UNIVERSITY (SSU) AND USMANU DANFODIYO UNIVERSITY SOKOTO (UDUS) CHAPTERS, HELD ON SATURDAY, 22ND JUNE, 2024 AT THE NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS CHAPEL, ZURU ROAD, SOKOTO
Gentle Men of the Press,
Enough of Government Neglect and Insensitivity towards the Plights of Lecturers in Nigerian Public Universities
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), having reviewed its engagements with the Federal and State Governments at the Emergency National Executive Council (NEC) held on Saturday, 8th June 2024, the Union was dismayed that the outstanding issues arising from the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the repositioning of Nigeria’s public universities for global recognition remains a mirage. The union is seriously disturbed by the reports it received, which highlighted the blunt refusal of both the state and Federal Governments to address the issues that compelled the union to embark on the nationwide strike action of February 2022.
The union is dismayed by the Federal government’s refusal to implement the already concluded Nimi Briggs report on the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement. Arising from the foregoing and to avert industrial disharmony within the university system. the union unequivocally demands the following:
1. Renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU 2009 Agreement
There should be immediate implementation of the Nimi Briggs Committee Report, which was submitted to the FG in 2022 after a series of negotiations under the legally approved method of collective bargaining and principles as enshrined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 98. The negotiation surpassed all the delay tactics of the FGN in the last 15 years. After failing to honour the recommendations of three consecutive committees, the Federal government unilaterally awarded a paltry 25 and 35 % increase in salary without recourse to the laid down process of collective bargaining. ASUU now calls on the President Tinubu-led administration to immediately sign the Nimi Briggs renegotiated draft document as a sign of goodwill and assured hope for Nigeria’s public universities. By this, it is to note that ASUU members are now pushed to the wall and therefore only concrete steps to restore their eroded morale and degraded lives will guarantee lasting peace on the campuses.
2. Withheld Salary
The 2022 strike action was suspended after the intervention of some well-meaning Nigerians, including the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alh. Sa’ad Abubakar, mni and the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. To this end, several formal and informal meetings were held while the court proceedings were ongoing. Promises were made at the meetings, including meeting the demands of ASUU and releasing the withheld salaries. Unfortunately, only four out of the seven and a half months were released. Therefore, the government has no justification for withholding lecturers’ salaries, particularly for the work already completed. It is even more disheartening that the value of the withheld salaries is hardly worth more than one-third of its value, courtesy of the massive devaluation of the Naira in the last year. Therefore, ASUU calls on the Federal and State Governments to, as a matter of urgency, release all the withheld salaries.
3. Third-Party Deductions from Our Members’ Salary
It is worrisome that the FG and Sokoto State deliberately refuse to release the money deducted from members’ salaries. This singular action has put our members into untold hardship since the money deducted is meant to settle their debts. This has led to huge accrued interest on members from their lenders. To continue to ignore ASUU’s formal and informal demands in this respect is to invite an avoidable industrial crisis in the system.
4. Earned Academic Allowances
The Union wishes to bring to your attention that the Federal Government has lately been evasive on the payment of the backlog of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), despite being captured in the 2023 Federal Government Budget for Federal Universities. The December 2020 Memorandum of Action (MoA) between FGN and ASUU reaffirmed the mainstreaming of EAA into lecturers’ salaries, while the next tranche of the allowances was to be paid in 2021. The scheduled payment was not only aborted, but the mainstreaming of the EAA, which was supposed to commence in 2022, has also remained a mirage in both Federal and State Universities. The Union is extremely embarrassed by the attitudes of the visitors for both Federal and some state universities, especially Sokoto State, for their refusal to pay for the extra work done by the academic staff of their respective universities. ASUU, therefore, wonders why it must take another round of strike action to force the Government to release lecturers’ entitlements that are already captured in the budget.
5. Illegal Dissolution of Governing Councils
The union observed with dismay the continued attack and erosion of the autonomy of public universities, as enshrined in the Universities’ Miscellaneous Act, through the arbitrary and illegal dissolution of University Governing Councils. More disturbing is the practice of reducing the University Governing Councils to a mere ground for compensating politicians. This is done by populating the so-called reconstituted University Governing Councils with people who have no business with university governance. ASUU condemns these anomalies in strong terms and calls on the Federal and states to take drastic measures to make immediate actions that will correct these abnormalities. The Federal and state Governments should restore the Councils, especially those dissolved without serving their terms.
6. Salary increment
Sokoto State Government should, as a matter of urgency, implement the 25/35% salary increment of members as approved by the Presidential Committee on Salaries. This is because labour matters, including salaries, are negotiated centrally, as stipulated in the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
7. Implementation of Wage Award
Sokoto State Government should emulate the Federal Government and implement the N 35,000 wage award for academic staff.
8. Completion of Sokoto State University Staff Quarters
The union appeals to the state government to urgently complete the staff quarters abandoned for over eleven years. Addressing this will enhance campus security and alleviate transportation and accommodation challenges faced by our members.
9. Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
Compatriots of the press, the Tinubu administration has announced the exit of tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) since December 2023, but to our chagrin, universities are still being paid through the IPPIS platform. What has gone wrong with Presidential directives? ASUU has consistently rejected the payment platform because it grossly erodes the autonomy of our universities. Moreover, the union is worried that some elements inside and outside the government may be planning to undermine the government’s directive given the ambiguity that currently surrounds the transition out of IPPIS. As canvassed at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the National Universities Commission (NUC) on 11th January 2024, ASUU’s position is very clear: Government should revert to quarterly releases of university funds to enable them to design and implement their salary payment plans. This is the hallmark of a truly autonomous university system as obtained in the 1960s and 1970s.
10. Promotion Arrears
Members of the press, it is with dismay I relay to you that the Federal government has consistently deprived our members of their promotion arrears, particularly those on the Professorial cadre from 2018 to 2024. This is due to the implementation of a dubious policy that transfers arrears to the Budget Office, which, unfortunately, is not helping matters. We call on the government to immediately release the promotion arrears of our members and pay all academics who were unjustly denied their salaries arising from the obnoxious imposition of IPPIS.
11. Underfunding of Universities.
Funding for revitalization has been central in the struggle of our Union and it remains a cardinal demand in all our agreements and memoranda with governments. In the aftermath of the 2022 struggle, the Federal Government claimed to have budgeted the sum of one hundred and seventy billion naira (₦170B) in the 2023 budget. Our understanding was that ₦120 billion was meant to address part of the outstanding Needs Assessment Intervention Fund while the balance would go into paying one of the agreed tranches of the EAA. Sadly, however, the Government has not released any funds to the universities based on the Understanding. Consequently, efforts to address issues such as shortage of lecture rooms and theatres, inadequate hostel and office accommodations etc. have been put to a complete halt. This has compelled several university administrations to raise school fees, levies and sundry charges paid by the students beyond the reach of impoverished Nigerians. ASUU condemns in its entirety, the wave of fee hikes.
12. Deepening Socio-Economic Crisis
ASUU reviewed the deepening socio-economic crisis which has worsened the insecurity situation in the country. Accentuated by the free-fall in the value of the Naira vis-à-vis international currencies, the distortion in the petroleum sector, corruptly called “subsidy removal”, has ushered in a regime of high cost of almost everything, job losses and a general atmosphere of despair and despondency in the country. The failure of the government to provide effective measures that would cushion the effect of its anti-poor policies has further pushed the Nigerian masses down the abyss of abject poverty and hardships. While calling on the Federal Government to accelerate the process of arriving at a minimum living wage, as demanded by the NLC, ASUU calls on the Government to urgently review all IMF/World Bank-sponsored economic policies, which are increasingly degrading the quality of life of Nigerians.
This press conference is meant to draw public attention to the serial insensitivity of the government in response to the agreements willingly reached with the union. Also, the lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare of our hard-working members in Nigeria’s public universities is unprecedented. Moreover, despite the good intentions of Nigerian academics to make our universities globally competitive, the government has continued to unleash hardship on us and our students. ASUU remains resolute in this patriotic mission. We call on other patriots in the media, labour movements, student groups, and civil society organisations to join our resolve to reposition the Nigerian university system in particular and the educational system in general for a transformed Nigeria.
The struggle continues! Thank you.
Muhammad N. Almustapha, Chairperson, ASUU-UDUS Saidu Isah Abubakar, Chairperson, ASUU-SSU
