Education
By Kennedy Nnamani
THE University of Jos branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has said that Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment was intentionally frustrating Nigerian universities.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by Prof. Lazarus L. Maigoro, ASUU Chairman, University of Jos, noted that Ngige ignored some of the issues reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
According to the union, one of the issues agreed on at the meeting was that 50% of the backlog of eight months arrears of its members’ withheld salaries will be paid immediately, but only 17 days prorated October salary was paid to their members by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
Describing the action as an insult to the union and wondered if the Accountant General of the Federation is answerable to the minister.
“We wonder why Ngige is only keen about withholding the salaries of ASUU members because staff of some Agricultural Research Institutes have been on strike for almost a year, but they have been receiving their salaries regularly,” the statement said.
It also noted that Ngige wrote a memo to the Accountant General asking him to pay the members only from the day they suspended the strike as against laid down policy.
The union said: “By this singular act, the minister of labour and employment has unfortunately casualised the work of the University lecturers.
“This further creates doubts in our minds as to whether the understanding reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives on some of the issues will be implemented at all by those who are saddled with the responsibility of doing so in order to avoid further needless strikes.
“From all indications, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige has personalised the matter between him and our union and is on a mission for vendetta.
“It has become crystal clear now that he wasn’t happy that the House of Representatives brokered a truce on some of the issues we went on strike for and has gone behind to undermine it.
“It is also very clear to us now why he shamelessly walked out on the leadership of the House of Representatives at one of the meetings with all stakeholders to the glare of all Nigerians because he never wanted any form of resolution to be reached on the issues being discussed and is leaving no stone unturned to frustrate it, even though he piously prides himself as the ‘chief conciliator of the nation.”
The union further alleged that the minister plans on causing confusion among its ranks by directing that some of its members at Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, UDUS, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Bauchi, ATBU, be paid eight months withheld salaries which were paid to them.
“Ngige has justified why he rudely tapped our President on the back and pointed accusing fingers at him while walking out of the meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives,” the statement added.
The union therefore concluded that “in view of the bottleneck placed by Ngige towards paying our members the backlog of our salaries, the Congress of ASUU of the University of Jos met on November 4, 2022 and resolved to stay at home, though not on strike, until the backlog of the withheld salaries are paid.”
Recall that the ASUU National Executive Council on October 14 suspended the eight-month strike, which began on February 14, 2022 to demand for better conditions of service agreed with the federal government in 2009.
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Tags: ASUU Chris Ngige Prof. Lazarus L. Maigoro University of Jos
