ASUU Benin Zone rejects the Federal Government’s proposed salary increment, describing it as inadequate and insisting on the full renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG agreement
ASUU Benin Zone Rejects FG’s Proposed Salary Increment, Demands Full Renegotiation of 2009 Agreement
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, on Wednesday firmly rejected the Federal Government’s proposed salary increment for university lecturers, describing the offer as grossly inadequate and incapable of addressing the challenges facing the nation’s tertiary education system.
Speaking at a press briefing in Benin City, the Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, said the proposal does nothing to end the worsening brain drain or resolve lingering issues that have plagued universities for years.
Igbafen said the increment amounts to “a mere drop in the ocean that is incapable of achieving the desired reversal of the brain drain syndrome currently bedevilling university education in Nigeria.”
He added that it is “sad that the Federal Government has again demonstrated a blatant unwillingness to quickly and holistically resolve all the outstanding issues.”
The union insists that the government must urgently conclude the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement, which covers salaries, conditions of service and other vital matters affecting the university system.
According to Igbafen, “The Federal Government would be serious for once to put the unresolved issues behind them by satisfactorily concluding the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement and genuinely addressing other ancillary matters in contention.”
He stressed that the welfare of lecturers remains a critical and unresolved issue, “The salary and conditions of service components remain a sore point that needs a radical approach to stem the impending crisis in the system.”
Igbafen issued a stern warning to the Federal Government, describing its approach to negotiations as inconsistent and dismissive.
“We are saying enough is enough to the back-and-forth approach of the Federal Government to the negotiation. This half-hearted approach must stop now. This ‘we are talking with ASUU’ without results must stop.”
The ASUU leader lamented that Nigerian university lecturers are still being paid based on a 2009 salary scale, despite severe inflation and the collapse of the naira over the years.
“University teachers in Nigeria have continued with the same salary regime of 2009 when the value of the naira to a dollar was N120,” he said.
He noted that this is happening even though “salaries in other sectors have since been reviewed upward twice or more.”
ASUU Benin Zone maintains that only a comprehensive, sincere negotiation will prevent another round of industrial crisis in Nigeria’s university system. Read More
