Academic Activities in Universities to Be Disrupted As ASUU Drops Hint of Another Strike Action

Hendrix Oliomogbe 

Academic activities in the nation's public universities may once again be disrupted should members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) make good their threats to embark on a full blown strike action to press home their demands for improved welfare at the expiration of the given one-month window.

The Benin Zonal coordinator of ASUU, Prof. Monday Igbafen, who dropped hint of the looming strike action while speaking with journalists Tuesday in Benin City, Edo State cited the back-and-forth approach of the Federal Government to negotiation for the union's decision.

Visibly angry, the Benin Zonal coordinator said that it is sheer wickedness for lecturers to remain in the same salary structure for over 15 years, considering the galloping rate of inflation in the country.

Prof. Igbafen said: "We are saying enough is enough to the back-and-forth approach of the federal government to the negotiation. This half-hearted approach must stop now. This we are talking with ASUU without results must stop. 

Prof. Igbafen said that the most obvious implications of the refusal of the government to conclude the negotiation is that lecturers have continued to be on the same salary regime of 2009 when the value of the naira to a dollar was N120, even as salaries in other sectors have been reviewed upward twice or more. 

The zonal coordinator lamented that a Nigerian professor at the bar earns less than $400 per month, which is a scandalous under-valuation of Nigerian scholars, saying:

"To continue to remain on the same salary regime for more than 15 years without a meaningful review is not only wicked and inhuman but also a catalyst for resistance, industrial disharmony and brain drain." 

Prof. Igbafen pointedly accused government officials, including the Minister of Education of being antithetical to a genuine and speedy resolution of the issues.

        Igbafen 

He said: "They are deliberately undermining the negotiation process by their subtle misrepresentations of issues and agreements, including the so-called government offers and their implementation, especially as they relate to the part-payment of promotion arrears dating as far back to 2017, and the release of third-party deductions, which are a part of our members’ unpaid benefits for years. 

"They have wickedly portrayed these as core or substantial issues, while at best, they are mere confidence boosting exercises which should not be framed as the substantial issues of the negotiation process."

Prof. Igbafen noted that the result of the dishonesty is that, the federal government had been dishing half-truths to the public on the negotiation, a strategy which he insisted, portends an inevitable crisis.

According to the unionist, the constant excuse by the government to deny the education sector adequate funding due to paucity of funds occasioned by the global economic downturn is no longer tenable, considering the prevailing economic realities in the country.

Continuing, he added that against the backdrop of a quantum leap in the revenue profiles of both the federal and state governments, the zonal coordinator put the blame for the inability to resolve the renegotiation process on the government's lack of political will rather than economic factors.

He said: "We are not unaware of the 2022 data from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) which evidently confirmed that states received a total of N3.92 trillion, while the figure for 2024 was N5.81 trillion, showing a staggering increase of over 62 percent. 

"Similarly, our Union is aware that the federal government received N3.42 trillion in generated revenue in 2022 and N4.65 trillion in 2024, representing a humongous increase of over 70 percent."

Igbafen declared: "The government must stand firm and resolve these issues once and for all within the time it still has at its disposal. Like other zones of our great union across the country, the Benin Zone of ASUU is ready for the directive of the NEC of our union to resume the suspended strike action at the expiration of the given one-month window."