Varsity Funding: ASUU Seeks Government Release, Disbursement of Earned Academic Allowance

Funmi Ogundare in Lagos and Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Lagos zone, yesterday, called on the federal government to ensure the immediate release and disbursement of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) appropriated into the 2023 budget, as well as the development of a more enduring funding framework.
This is just as the Bauchi State chapter of ASUU has lamented the current harrowing economic condition of Nigerian citizens, calling on the federal government to accelerate the process of arriving at a minimum living wage as demanded by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
The Coordinator of the union, Comrade Adelaja Odukoya who made this call while briefing journalists, at the University of Lagos, Akoka, recalled that N120 billion was proposed to be used for the revitalisation of universities based on the Needs Assessment report  out of N170 billion allocated by the federal government in the 2023 budget following the union’s 2022 strike action, while the remaining amount would be used for the payment of the EAA.
He stated that the sums are no longer adequate for revitiisation purposes, owing to increasing deterioration of current facilities and the astronomical rise of the exchange rate.
He expressed concern about the failure of the federal government to address the payment of of the backlog of the EAA, a portion of which was included in the 2023 national budget for federal universities saying, “the mainstreaming of EAA into academics’ wages was reiterated in the December 2020 Memorandum of Action (MoA) between federal government of Nigeria and ASUU, to the effect that the next tranche of allowances would be paid in 2021.
“The planned payment was reneged on, while the mainstreaming of EAA in federal and state universities has stalled since 2022.”
Odukoya explained that government at all levels should not wait for another round of strikes  before paying these entitlements which values have now been eroded, and which were included in the budget that the union was given  access to by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives and now Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

The coordinator also expressed concern about the handling of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System ( IPPIS) saying that some elements within and outside the government are working to undermine the directive of the government .

He added that the government should go back to quarterly release of money to universities so that they can plan and carry out their salary payment as expressed during the stakeholders meeting at the National Universities Commission ( NUC) on January 11.

“This is especially true about the so-called ‘new IPPIS’ as it is presently displayed on the home page of the Federal Ministry of Finance website. This is to say the least fraudulent as what government did amounts to deceiving universities and the country given the president’s proclamation on the obnoxious IPPIS. The government should refund all academics who were wrongfully denied their salary as a result of the annoying implementation of IPPIS’, as well as the release of backlogs of promotion arrears in our universities.,” Odukoya stressed.

He regretted the reckless way in which state and federal government was establishing universities without the necessary steps to secure their financial support saying that ASUU and the federal government had a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoA) which emphasised the necessity of strengthening the NUC through legislation in a bid to halt the excessive proliferation of Universities.

Meanwhile, the Zonal Coordinator of the union, Prof. Naumwa Voncir,  who addressed journalists in Jos, Plateau State, also called on the federal government to urgently review all IMF/World Bank-sponsored economic policies which are increasingly degrading the quality of life of Nigerians.

 He said, “The free fall in the value of 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 transportation, unaffordable prices of commodities, job losses and ballooning joblessness, insecurity and general atmosphere of despair and despondency in the country.

“The failure of 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.”

Lamenting on the poor remuneration of lecturers in Nigeria, Voncir said, “It is no longer news that the salaries of the highest-paid professor, on average, have been reduced to a meagre $210/month. This is one of the least in the world. Unfortunately, even the unilateral award of 35% and 25% by the despotic Buhari-led administration, which had been activated through the National Wages, Salaries and Income Commission (NWSIC) through a circular, remains a promissory note more than one year later.”

On Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the union said that it is worried that some elements inside and outside government may be planning to undermine the government directive “given the ambiguity that currently surrounds our removal from IPPIS with particular reference to the so-called “new IPPIS” with which January salaries were paid a few days ago.”

Insisting that government reverts to quarterly releases of university funds to enable them to design and implement their programmes in tandem with international best practices, he said that such is the hallmark of a truly autonomous university system as obtained in the 1960s and 1970s. “We demand immediate compliance with the directive of the President of Nigeria removing tertiary institutions from IPPIS.”

The union also called on all University Senates to resist the surreptitious moves by National Universities Commissions (NUC) to erode their powers over academic programmes in their respective Universities by NUC imposition of Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standard (CCMAS).

It warned the government not to push the union back into needless and avoidable industrial disharmony that will result in another closure of universities in the country.

NASFAT Prays for Jonathan over Sister’s DemiseThe Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih Society (NASFAT) has prayed and condoled with former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan over the death of his elder sister, Madam Obebhatein Jonathan.
NAFSAT, in a statement yesterday, said the prayer, offered by Chief Missioner of NASFAT, Imam Abdul-Azeez Onike, was prompted by Jonathan’s call to people of goodwill to pray for his family, especially his mother, who is currently mourning the death of one of her two surviving children.
The former president had made the call for prayer for his family at Otuoke, Bayelsa State, during the funeral for his sister.
The statement quoted Onike as saying that while doing the prayer, he was personally moved by the statement of the former president that his mother has now lost eight children, leaving him as her only surviving son.
Onike said while the position of Islam is clear on the prohibition of prayer for a dead non-Muslim, a Muslim is encouraged to share in the grief of a living being and condole with him for the sake of humanity regardless of his religion, race or sex.  

Onike prayed to Allah to grant the former president’s mother and her family the fortitude to bear the loss.