Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the University of llorin chapter on Monday have protested against the casual treatment meted out on them in the country.
This was made known at a protest rally which held on Monday at the institution’s ASUU Secretariat, themed, “ The Casualization of Intellectualism in Nigeria.”
The former ASUU chairman of the university and a council member of the union, Professor Rasheed Adeoye, and the secretary of the union in the university, Olatunji Abdulganiyu, described half salaries reportedly paid by the government to members of the union for October as unacceptable, saying it would be resisted.
“As a law-abiding union, we have heeded the directive of the court which directed that we resume to our duty posts while the substantive matter is being heard.
“However, after the resumption from the strike
and to our utmost dismay, the government decided that half salaries be paid to our members for the month of October 2022.
“This development is unacceptable and would be resisted by our union.
“The fact is that academics are not casual workers.
READ ALSO:
- I left N14bn For My Successor – Osun’s Outgoing Gov. Oyetola
- 2023: IGP Orders Distribution Of Weapons, Protective Equipment For Officers
- Sculptors Unveil 108 Ife Terracota Heads in Honor of Chibok Girls
He further stated that only casual workers receive pay pro-rata and stressed on the fact that the National Industrial Court affirmed in a landmark judgment in 2020 that tenured staff cannot be paid pro-rata.
“Only casual workers receive pay pro-rata. The law of the land is also clear on this; indeed, the National Industrial Court made it clear in a landmark judgment in 2020 that tenured staff cannot be paid pro-rata.
Expressing his displeasure, he stated, “It is very sad that the Minister of Labour is ignorant of the fact that academic staff engage in so many activities aside teaching duties.
“In fact, the primary duty of an academic staff is research, and there are other activities such as that that continue to engage their attention irrespective of strike action or whether school is in session or not.
“To this effect, though we have resumed work in our university, government ignoble stance of withholding our eight months’ salaries, which is based on its ill-advised policy of “No work, No Pay” is set to trigger fresh crises.”
Prof. Adeoye reiterated, that the union would stop working and would abandon projects that have piled up within the period the government had claimed they did not work.
“In the coming days, the union would respond by considering to invoke the “No Pay, No work policy and would abandon the works that have accumulated for those period which government has falsely claimed that our members have not worked.”
“Members of the public are hereby sensitized and put on notice again that fresh crisis, which would surpass all previous ones, is looming again in Nigeria Universities as our members cannot and would not continue to do free work that would not be remunerated.” He said.
According to the union, “We hope that with this notice, all relevant stakeholders, who have the ears of government and would act fast before the fragile peace restored on our campuses nationwide collapses.
“Our union and its members should not be held responsible for the consequences that its actions, in response to the crude wickedness of the Nigerian state, would have on all stakeholders,” the union said.
According to ASUU leaders, the demands of the union, for the records, include, “Release of Revitalisation Fund to the public institutions in the country, Release of White paper of Visitation Panels to public universities which our union forced government to convene, Renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU/ FGN Agreement and the termination of the obnoxious, ineffective and corrupt laden IPPIS as payment platform in the Nigeria public university system, among others.”