The Chairman Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Ibadan Chapter Dr Deji Omole has asked the Federal Government to in the spirit of workers’ day celebration address the shortfall of personnel cost and other obligations in Nigeria public universities.
Dr Omole who lamented in a press release on Sunday in Ibadan noted that the present administration has adopted “maradona style” in meeting the agreements it signed with the union in 2009 and 2013 memorandum of understanding stating that academic staff in Nigerian universities are enduring the worst of welfare and lacks attention.
According to Omole, while the student to lecturer ratio keeps increasing, and science laboratories are nothing to write home about, lecturers are still expected to teach students with poor facilities to produce globally competitive students.
He lamented that most university lecturers now face hard times due to fractional
payment of salaries and, unpaid earned academic allowances.
He lamented that Nigeria may suffer another brain drain as conditions of service for Nigerian academics are nothing to write home about even when place in the context of africa and not european universities.
Omole who noted that if lecturers’ welfare and salaries are paid in full with adequate world class teaching facilities, lecturers in Nigerian universities will be able to complete globally.
He lamented that Nigeria has started loosing her best academics to universities who offer better conditions of service and welfare.
The ASUU boss said if the welfare of those in service are addressed it will check corruption and primitive accumulation saying the fear of unsecured future is partly responsible for growing corruption.
Omole also wondered why the Federal government is playing politics with the registration of its NUPENCO to take care of the retirement interest of university lecturers after the union had payed one billion naira as against one hundred and fifty million naira paid by other operating Pension Fund Administrators.
