The Federal Government pledged to pay N22.1 billion in Earned Academic Allowances to staff in federal institutions two weeks ago, but the promise has yet to be fulfilled, according to a Vanguard investigation.
This comes as the university system’s staff unions prepare to meet later this week to deliberate on the next course of action.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) are the unions involved.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of ASUU, revealed that the union has yet to receive any funds from the government in an interview with Vanguard yesterday.
“At the moment, we have not yet received any funds from the government.” The promise has not been fulfilled. He remarked, “We’re going to meet later this week to assess the issue.”
In response to other unions’ concerns about the money-sharing formula, Osodeke stated that his union had no beef with any other union and that any union not content with whatever it was given should know whom to contact.
On his part, the National President of SSANU, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, also confirmed that no money had been paid to them by the government.
He said: “We have not received any money and we still stand by our position that the allowance should be paid to the universities which are the employers of the workers.
“The money should not be paid to the unions. The universities know who their workers are.
“We are also insisting that the sharing formula is unacceptable to us.
“We also want the result of the forensic audit done in all the universities after the second tranche of the allowance was paid to be made public. We know what we are saying, ASUU members were overpaid.”
Ibrahim further stated that the JAC, which was formed by SSANU and NASU to further their cause, would meet later this week to review the situation.
“We’re going to do that because the two weeks we provided them to pay has elapsed, and we need to follow up,” he explained.
Remember that the sharing model, in which ASUU gets 75% of the allotment and the other three unions get the rest, has produced a lot of friction among the staff unions.
The development could spark another bout of industrial unrest in the country’s ivory towers.
Ada Peter
