The Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) has said it would invoke a no-pay-no-work policy since the Federal Government has refused to pay lecturers’ salaries. The Union disclosed that its lecturers will stop teaching students whenever their salaries are delayed.
In an interview with Punch on Friday, ASUU National President, Prof Chris Piwuna said the federal government is trying hard to frustrate its members.
According to him, since the Union parted from the Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System, popularly known as IPPIS, following the announcement of the FG to remove academic and non-academic staff members of higher institutions from the controversial IPPIS. This announcement, however, followed ASUU and other academic union’s complaint about the platform.
In his speech, Piwuna said; “Since the departure from IPPIS, the salaries of lecturers have consistently been delayed. We don’t get paid the way other workers get paid. It is either we are paid 10 days into a new month. With the economic challenges in the country, it has not been easy for our members.
“Look at June now, we have not been paid, our members can’t celebrate Sallah properly. So, we have now resolved that since the government want to delay our salaries, we can’t continue to teach. We want to teach but we can’t teach without our salaries. We have decided to invoke the no-pay-no-work policy.
“Branches have started to adopt. What this means is that lecturers boycott classes pending the time that salaries are paid.”
On behalf of non-academic staff, the National President of the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions, Mohammed Ibrahim, who spoke recalled how they wrote letters enquiring why their salaries were delayed but got no explanation.
He lamented that Nigerian lecturers are being treated like second class citizens.
“Last month, we had to write a series of letters asking why our salaries were not released. No explanation was given.
“University workers are simply treated like second-class citizens. Remember, we have written to the Accountant General of the Federation and copied the ministers of education and labour. The labour ministry wrote to us to say that they have reached out to the minister of education, but you can see that nothing has changed this month either,” he said.
