The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU AKURE ZONE Consisting of four Institutions has vowed that to join another national strike which an indication of looming industrial action if government failed to pay members’ earned allowance, arrears of promotion and revitalize universities to a world class standard.
SUNSHINETRUTH understands that the four institutions under the zone are; Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, OAU; Ekiti state University, Ado-Ekiti and Federal University, Oye Ekiti, FUOYE.
The Akure Zone ASUU Coordinator, Professor Olu Olufayo who made this known in Ado Ekiti, said government had remained silence on the white paper of the Visitation Panels to all Federal universities in the country.
“We hope that the government is not trying to protect some sacred cows by not releasing the white paper on time because the system is rife with nepotistic fragrance”.
Professor Olufayo explained that despite the fact that government claimed to have captured the first tranche of earned Academic allowance payment in the supplementary budget and assented to by the President, but still the payment had not commenced to the deserving lecturers.
“There are two outstanding tranche of Earned Academic Allowance EAA. The government by agreement was to pay one tranche of the EAA to deserving lecturers by May 2021 and the second tranche to follow”.
”Similarly government informed us that mainstream of the EAA had been captured in the 2021 supplementary budget already given assent by the president but not yet implemented. All issues raised here are still outstanding”.
The ASUU Coordinator lamented the proliferation of universities especially by the state government without physical infrastructure coupled with abysmal payment of salaries.
He called on traditional rulers, market woman and all stakeholders in educational sector to prevail on government to address ASUU demands in the interest of Academic standard, industrial harmony and meaningful growth in Nigeria
Professor Olufayo said it was not only embarrassing to ASUU that government found it difficult to keep an agreement with the union for over a decade.
Also speaking, the Chairmen ASUU, Federal University of Technology, FUTA Akure, Professor Yinka Awopetu and his counterpart from OAU, Dr Adeola Egbedokun noted that there were promotion of three years which had not been affected due to infamous platform of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System IPPIS imposed on them by government.
”Many of our members are owed millions in arrears of salaries because of the deliberate attempt to punish us via the infamous platform of Integrated Payroll and person information system IPPIS”.
It would be recalled that ASUU suspended it’s nine months old strike in December 2020
