Victor EzejaThe Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities (CVC) has appealed to the Nigerian government to withdraw its ‘No Work No Pay’ policy slammed on members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing strike.
The Vice Chancellors committee said the policy if allowed to continue to be, would cause more damage to the system as the student are at the receiving end of it all, and therefore appealed to the government to re-consider its position on the matter and pay the withheld salaries.
This is contained in a resolution reached at an emergency meeting of the committee held on Tuesday September 6, 2022 to discuss ways to amicably resolve the impasse between the federal government and ASUU.
The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission had extended invitation to Pro-chancellors and Vice chancellors of Nigerian federal universities for a meeting with the Honourable Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to review the position of ASUU and that of the federal government on the major issues in contention, with the aim of finding amicable ways of bringing the protracted strike to an end.
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ASUU which had been on strike since February 14, recently rolled it over to indefinite strike following the inability of both parties to resolve issues at stake.
The federal government had stopped the payment of salaries of the university lecturers since the strike began and insisted on not paying the arrears which ASUU objected to.
Part of the demands of ASUU include university autonomy, adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) against the Independent Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) platform designed by the federal government; release of the Need Assessment Revitalisation funds for tertiary institutions; review of lecturers salaries and allowances, and halting the proliferation of state universities.
The federal government had also appointed a committee headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs to interface with the union. The committee had rounded up negotiation with ASUU and reported to the government with agreements reached for implementation.
The Vice Chancellors committee in a statement signed by its chairman, and Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Professor Sulayman Abdulkareem, noted that government’s acceptance of the appeal to withdraw the ‘no work no pay policy would no doubt help to quickly resolve the lingering impasse.
On the demand for salary adjustment, CVC said the government need to do that, pointing out that the current template prepared by the Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission brought very low the salaries of academics and Vice-Chancellors.
“The proposal by the Nimi Briggs Committee should be revisited as their figures represents a better offer that will stem the tide of unrest in the Universities,” CVC added.
It also appealed to the federal government to extend Financial Autonomy to Governing Councils of various universities to allow them determine the salaries of the staff “subject to a national minimum as agreed by all stakeholders.”
On the demand for the release of the N170 billion to complete one tranche of the Need Assessment Revitalization fund, the CVC urged ASUU to be patient with federal government which said it will include it in the 2023 budget.
CVC also appealed to government to take care of the peculiarities of the Universities as pointed out by the various unions on the issue of the payment platforms.
Other recommendations of the committee include that government should expedite action and release the White Paper on the Government visitation panel to Nigeria public universities; source for fund to pay the N50 billion to complete the payment of arrears of Earned Allowances in line with the 2020 MoA to put close to the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement.
It also urged ASUU to reconsider its position and reciprocate the government’s gesture to suspend the strike.
On the issue of halting the proliferation of universities by state governments, it said “CVC believes that this is a constitutional matter domiciled with the NUC. The CVC agrees that the proliferation of Universities can have deleterious effects on the quality and standard of University Education. However, the conditions for licensing and quality control by NUC as envisaged by the draft bill is already on-going.”
CVC expressed sympathy with the students, parents and other stakeholders in the system over the lingering strike, noting that when the industrial dispute is resolved, there will be a need to “return to the table to re-think the philosophy of university education in Nigeria, its funding and governance structure and the role each strategic stakeholder or partner will play.”
It lamented that the public universities have in the last five months lost a substantial number of academics who resigned to engage in other more financially rewarding activities, both in Nigeria and abroad.
“Furthermore, the embargo on employment and other bureaucratic bottlenecks which universities are made to pass through in their process of recruitment to replenish existing vacancies is not helping the already bad staffing situation”
While noting that the six months of industrial action has triggered unintended consequences on academic activities, it cautioned the federal government against forceful reopening of schools, adding that keeping students idle in school forebodes more danger.
It also appealed to government to support the universities with special grants for re-opening, stating that the financial reserves have exhausted with the prolonged strike as many of them have not received overheads for some time now.
“We urge all parties to adopt a give-and-take option in the negotiations and employ decorum and decency in the language of communication.
“All hands must be on deck as we seek to make the required sacrifices for the sake of University education in Nigeria,” the committee concluded
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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