University teachers have accused the Federal Government of reneging on the deal signed with the Academic Workers Union of Universities two weeks after suspending their nine-month-old strike (ASUU).
In a statement, the dons said that the government had yet to
pay their wages in December, although “illegal” deductions were still to be repaid.
In the release, the union said the government had “again failed to honour its agreement on payment of not only outstanding salaries of members ranging from five to eight months; Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and check off dues illegally deducted before December 31, 2020.”
In March 2020, the lecturers started a strike over the government’s failure to honor the
agreement reached with ASUU in 2009 relating to university revitalization, increased funding and construction of infrastructure.
The body also protested against the implementation by the government of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) alternative payment
platform, insisting that the initiative was at odds with university autonomy and therefore advised members not to register on the platform.
Following the involvement of stakeholders and the government’s directive to postpone the introduction of the contentious IPPIS for lecturers, the strike was conditionally suspended.
But the chairman of the ASUU chapter of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dr Dele
Ashiru, told The Guardian that successive administrations have always refused to comply with union agreements.
He said that before the extended industrial action was suspended, the government made some commitments,
but regretted that the new administration allegedly failed to deal with its portion of the deal.
Ashiru said: “For instance, the government failed to pay members’ illegally deducted salaries before December 31, 2020, and as of January 3, we are yet to receive December 2020 salary. Government promised to refund our illegally deducted check-off dues before December 31, 2020, but that has not been done as we speak. They promised to credit the Earned Academic Allowances account before December 31 and that also has not been done.”
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
