Dr John Ogi, a senior lecturer with Moses Adasu University, Makurdi, Benue State has slammed the Federal Government over plans to stop the remuneration of the striking lecturers.
It was reported that the Federal Government on Sunday warned that the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, which begins today, Monday, will trigger the enforcement of no-work-no-pay policy.
The don, who urged the government to stop treating university teachers as Almajiris, blamed some unfavorable policies of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration on poor advice.
According to him, such a stance “disregards the root causes of industrial action and undermines the legitimate grievances of university lecturers who are demanding, not begging for, their rightful entitlements.
“President Tinubu may have the vision and capacity to lead Nigeria forward, but his success depends heavily on the quality of advice and decisions made by those around him.
“Policies that humiliate intellectuals and reduce professionals to a state of dependence akin to almajiri—only reflect a profound misunderstanding of governance and labour relations.
“This approach does not foster progress; it deepens distrust and widens the gap between leadership and the workforce. Justice, not coercion, should define the government’s response.
“The government will be showing her irresponsibility with any of such local approaches to resolving labour issues; this is not the first attempt to use such failed and outdated approaches. ASUU is stronger and more focused”.
ASUU shuts down all public universities
Academic activities are expected to be placed on hold in all public universities starting from Monday (today) as members of ASUU begin a 2-week warning strike nationwide.
In a terse statement on Sunday, ASUU declared a total and comprehensive warning strike starting from Monday, October 13.
The union is currently demanding the conclusion of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, the release of the withheld three and a half months’ salaries, sustainable funding of public universities, revitalisation of public universities, and cessation of the victimisation of lecturers in LASU, Prince Abubakar Audu University, and FUTO.
Others are payment of outstanding 25-35% salary arrears, payment of promotion arrears for over four years and release of withheld third-party deductions (cooperative contributions, union check-off dues).
On 26 August this year, the university teachers embarked on a protest across all federal and state universities to draw the attention of the government to their demands.
However, the union alleged that the call fell on deaf ears, lamenting the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare of lecturers.
But on October 8, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa said the FG had entered the final phase of talks with aggrieved lecturers.
Reports indicated that the Federal Government extended an invitation to the ASUU on October 10 in a move to stop the industrial action.
It was further gathered that during the meeting, the FG presented a proposal to ASUU, but it was rejected by the union’s leadership, who declared that the new offer did not meet their demands.