Salaries: UNIJOS ASUU issues stay-at-home order to members
The Union of Academic Staff of Universities, chapter of the University of Jos, on Friday ordered its members to stay at home indefinitely, pending payment of salaries withheld by the federal government.
The ASUU branch made this known in a statement made available to our correspondent and signed by the branch president, Professor Lazarus Maigoro.
The PUNCH exclusively reported on Thursday how the government had paid half the salaries of striking university professors.
The statement reads in part: "One of the matters agreed at the meeting was that 50% of the eight month backlog of our withheld salaries will be paid to our members immediately, but at the time of As of the writing of this press release, only 17 days of pro-rated October pay has been paid to our members by the office of the Federation's Accountant General.
“After approximately nine consecutive months of stay, our members at the University of Jos considered this an insult from the accountant general of the Federation.
"Is the Accountant General of the Federation really accountable to the Minister of Labour?" So, if today the Minister of Agriculture orders the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the salaries of the staff of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have been on strike for more than a year, will he obey?
“We wonder why Ngige insists on withholding the salaries of ASUU members, as the staff of some agricultural research institutes have been on strike for almost a year, but they receive their salaries regularly. Is this policy only for ASUU members?
"We also know that the Minister for Labor and Employment, Chris Ngige, wrote a note to the Accountant General asking him to only pay our members from the day we suspended the strike.
"By this singular act, the Minister of Labor and Employment has unfortunately made the work of University Lecturers more precarious.
“It still creates doubts in our minds as to whether the agreement reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives on some of the issues will be implemented by those charged with the responsibility of doing so in order to avoid further unnecessary strikes.
“By all indications, Minister of Labor and Employment Chris Ngige has personalized the matter between him and our union and is on a vendetta mission.
“It has become crystal clear now that he was not happy that the House of Representatives brokered a truce on some of the issues we went on strike for and took delay to undermine it.
“It is also very clear to us now why he shamelessly left the leadership of the House of Representatives during one of the meetings with all stakeholders in the eyes of all Nigerians, as he never intended that no form of resolution be reached on the matters discussed and is the nation.
"In view of the bottleneck placed by Ngige to pay our members the arrears of our salaries, the congress of ASUU University of Jos met today November 4, 2022 and decided to stay home but not strike until our wages are in arrears withheld wages paid.
"For the avoidance of doubt, our members are back to work, willing and ready to work but are unable to work. Based on the revised Academic Calendar for the 2020/2021 session approved by the University Senate, classes should have already started but the challenge of non-payment of salaries forced our members to come to class to teach.
“What this means is that students who have already resumed will have to wait indefinitely while we wait for our withheld salaries to be paid to us.”
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The Union of Academic Staff of Universities, chapter of the University of Jos, on Friday ordered its members to stay at home indefinitely, pending payment of salaries withheld by the federal government.
The ASUU branch made this known in a statement made available to our correspondent and signed by the branch president, Professor Lazarus Maigoro.
The PUNCH exclusively reported on Thursday how the government had paid half the salaries of striking university professors.
The statement reads in part: "One of the matters agreed at the meeting was that 50% of the eight month backlog of our withheld salaries will be paid to our members immediately, but at the time of As of the writing of this press release, only 17 days of pro-rated October pay has been paid to our members by the office of the Federation's Accountant General.
“After approximately nine consecutive months of stay, our members at the University of Jos considered this an insult from the accountant general of the Federation.
"Is the Accountant General of the Federation really accountable to the Minister of Labour?" So, if today the Minister of Agriculture orders the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the salaries of the staff of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have been on strike for more than a year, will he obey?
“We wonder why Ngige insists on withholding the salaries of ASUU members, as the staff of some agricultural research institutes have been on strike for almost a year, but they receive their salaries regularly. Is this policy only for ASUU members?
"We also know that the Minister for Labor and Employment, Chris Ngige, wrote a note to the Accountant General asking him to only pay our members from the day we suspended the strike.
"By this singular act, the Minister of Labor and Employment has unfortunately made the work of University Lecturers more precarious.
“It still creates doubts in our minds as to whether the agreement reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives on some of the issues will be implemented by those charged with the responsibility of doing so in order to avoid further unnecessary strikes.
“By all indications, Minister of Labor and Employment Chris Ngige has personalized the matter between him and our union and is on a vendetta mission.
“It has become crystal clear now that he was not happy that the House of Representatives brokered a truce on some of the issues we went on strike for and took delay to undermine it.
“It is also very clear to us now why he shamelessly left the leadership of the House of Representatives during one of the meetings with all stakeholders in the eyes of all Nigerians, as he never intended that no form of resolution be reached on the matters discussed and is the nation.
"In view of the bottleneck placed by Ngige to pay our members the arrears of our salaries, the congress of ASUU University of Jos met today November 4, 2022 and decided to stay home but not strike until our wages are in arrears withheld wages paid.
"For the avoidance of doubt, our members are back to work, willing and ready to work but are unable to work. Based on the revised Academic Calendar for the 2020/2021 session approved by the University Senate, classes should have already started but the challenge of non-payment of salaries forced our members to come to class to teach.
“What this means is that students who have already resumed will have to wait indefinitely while we wait for our withheld salaries to be paid to us.”
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