JUST IN: Nigerian Students Experience Setback As ASUU Announces Lecture-free Day To Protest Payment Of Half-Salary
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is reportedly planning a one-day nationwide protest against the Federal Government’s implementation of a “no-work, no-pay” policy for lecturers in the nation, which could result in more industrial action for Nigerian students in the near future.
A day without lectures will be observed by all lecturers who are members of the union, and the protest will be coordinated at the branch levels of the union on public university campuses across the country.
In an interview with our reporter on Sunday, November 13, 2022, a union member who serves on the national executive council affirmed this.
Remember that on Friday, October 16, 2022, ASUU called off its eight-month strike that had closed the nation’s public institutions in order to compel full fulfillment of agreements it had made with the Federal Government a few years prior.
When university instructors were away from their duty positions during the ASUU strike, the federal government persisted on enforcing the “No Work, No Pay” policy.
Things, however, took a new turn last Thursday, November 3, 2022, when it was learned that the government only paid the university teachers half-month salaries.
The ministry of labor responded by stating that ASUU members received their October wage pro rata rather than half of what had been reported in the media.
Because they cannot be paid for work that has not been completed, the ministry claims that pro-rata was used.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, pleaded with ASUU members to exercise patience regarding the Federal Government’s half pay on November 7, 2022.
He assured the professors in a statement that long-term solutions to their problems were being sought, noting how President Muhammadu Buhari was handling their most recent protest.
The government’s no work, no pay policy was justified by Gbajabiamila as being based on preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.
After the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on November 8, 2022, the union announced that it would not go on strike but instead use other tactics to press its demands.
The rumored protest that the union will hold appears to be one of the other strategies to be used.
“We’re demonstrating. The source who revealed the plan said, “Branches will select their own dates; the government needs to understand that we are not casual workers.
A letter from the chair of the University of Lagos branch of ASUU, Dr. Dele Ashir, confirming the development, stated that the branch would demonstrate on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
The letter, which was addressed to “all stakeholders,” noted that the special congress and protest rally against the casualization of intellectualism in Nigeria would take place on “Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at Julius Berger Auditorium.”
As of the time this report was filed, Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU, could not be immediately reached for comment.
