Major crisis
looms as 32 tertiary institutions in Nigeria are currently been owed salaries and arrears from four to 23 months respectively .
Both Academic and Non-academic staff are from the state-owned
tertiary institutions complained over the
non-payment of their salaries.
Some workers told Ashiwaju.org that
they might embark on an indefinite strike if their entitlements were not paid
within a short time.
The situation
made members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology, Ogbomoso, to demand for the payment of their 13
months’ salaries from the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, and his Osun
State counterpart, Rauf Aregbesola. LAUTECH is owned by both Oyo and Osun states.
The lecturers
also threatened to embark on industrial action if the governments of the two
states refused to consent to their demand.
Chairman of
LAUTECH ASUU, Dr. Oyebamiji Oyegoke, had said that the lecturers had been
living in poverty as a result of the states’ refusal to fulfil their financial
obligations to them.
Three of the four
Kwara State-owned tertiary institutions – Kwara State University, Malete;
College of Education, Ilorin; College of Education, Oro, owed their workers
four months’ salaries, while the Kwara State College of Education (Technical),
Lafiagi, owe one month’s salaries. The Kwara State College of Arabic and
Islamic Legal Studies also owes its workers two months’ salaries.
It was also
learnt that academic and non-academic workers at the Kogi State University,
Ayingba; Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja; and Kogi State College of Education,
Ankpa, have yet to receive their June salaries.
In Edo State,
workers at the College of Education, Ekhiadolor; College of Education, Igueben;
College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi; and the Institute of Management and
Technology, Usen, are being owed between two and four months’ salaries.
According to the
Chairman, Coalition of State Owned Tertiary Institutions in Edo, Mr. Fred
Omonuwa, the workers might resort to a protest as they had done in the past to
push for the payment of their entitlements.
The situation at
the Akwa Ibom State University, Uyo, is different from other states. It was
gathered that many workers employed by the university’s management with a view
to meeting some accreditation requirements by the National Universities
Commission have not been paid for the past 16 months.
Even the regular
workers, according to a lecturer who spoke on the condition of anonymity, are
owed two months’ salaries.
Academic and
their non-academic counterparts at the Akwa Ibom State College of Education,
Afaha Nsit, alleged that they had not been paid salaries for the past 23
months.
The Ekiti State
University is being owed four months’ subventions by the state government.
Chairman of the
university’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Mr. Ismail
Falade, who disclosed this in a text message to one of our correspondents in
Ado-Ekiti, added that the institution’s workers were being owed two months’
salaries.
The branch
Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Olufayo Olu-Olu,
explained that the institution’s management had paid net salary for March while
the state government paid for April and May.
The Osun State
Polytechnic, Iree; Osun State Polytechnic, Esa-Oke; College of Education,
Ila-Orangun and College of Education, Ilesa, also owe their academic and
non-academic workers for the past six months.
The Public
Relations Officer of Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned
Tertiary Institutions, Mr. Dotun Omisore, told one of our correspondents that
they had just been paid 50 per cent of their January salaries while the state
had also not remitted pension contributions deducted from their salaries since
2013.
The story is the
same in Plateau State where all the seven tertiary institutions owned by the
state -Plateau State University, Bokkos; Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin
Ladi; College of Arts, Science and Technology, Kurgwi; College of Education,
Gindiri; College of Agriculture, Garkawa; School of Health Technology,
Pankshin; and School of Health Technology, Zawan – have not paid their workers
for many months.
It was also
learnt that the academic and non-academic workers at the Tai Solarin College of
Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, are also angry over the non-payment of their
48 months’ salary arrears.
The workers’
unions’ leaders had written to the state government informing it that they were
withdrawing their services until their salaries were paid.
But they were
shocked to have received a letter signed by the Secretary to the State
Government, Adeoluwa Taiwo, that the unions’ activities had been suspended
within the campus, as he claimed they had been infiltrated by the enemies of
the government.
Of the three Ondo
State-owned tertiary institutions, only Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko, does not owe salaries. The authorities of Ondo State University
of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, owe
their workers two months’ pay.
The Public
Relations Officer of RUGIPO, Mr. Samuel Ojo, confirmed that the institution’s
management had yet to pay the workers May and June salaries.
Sixty-five
lecturers have not been paid for 35 months by the management of the Rivers
State University of Science and Technology, Diobu.
The affected
lecturers were recalled after being sacked for allegedly protesting the
reappointment of the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Barineme
Fakae.
The 65 lecturers
had claimed that Fakae’s reappointment did not follow due process.
The Acting
Chairman of RSUST ASUU, Dr. Suobere Puyate, told Saturday PUNCH that apart from
the 65 lecturers, who had not been paid, other lecturers have received their
salaries up to June.
Apart from many
months of their arrears and allowances that were allegedly not paid to them,
academic and non-academic workers of the Cross River University of Technology,
Calabar, are being owed three months’ salaries.
Though it was
learnt that the management of Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, did
not owe the institution’s regular lecturers, Chairman NDU ASUU, Dr. Beke Sese,
said graduate assistants had not received a dime since they were employed over
two years ago by the institutions management.