University workers yesterday rejected the N35,000 wage award, saying that they prefer to negotiate their salaries with President BolaTinubu.
The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who spoke at the inauguration of the secretariat of the University of Ibadan branch, said the wage award fell below expectation.
The union’s building at Olajuwon Olayide Extension, Ajibode, has a secretariat building, scholars’ chalets as well as other modern facilities.
Osodeke disclosed that the union had agreed that whatever was legally sent to members’ accounts should be spent, but not to be taken as the negotiated salary.
He said: “We told them we should negotiate our wage, but they said we are giving you an award of N35,000; we have told them that it is not our own. We are still insisting that there has to be negotiated salary.”
Osodeke highlighted pending industrial issues with the Federal Government, including the renegotiation of the existing agreement, payment of withheld salaries, earned academic allowance and the release of the Needs Assessment Funds.
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While commending the UI ASUU branch for the edifice it built through the expertise of its members, Osodeke decried the use of external or foreign consultants to handle projects in the country.
He said government should rather hire Nigerian experts and consultants, particularly from the universities.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnership, Prof. Yemisi Bamgbose, commended the union.
He said the secretariat would serve as a hub of intellectual discussion, collaboration and solidarity among lecturers “as it continues to strive for a better future for our universities and our nation.”
The UI ASUU Chairman, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, said the secretariat was built without donations from external bodies.
He commended union members who supported the project and ensured its completion.
The highlight of the inauguration included a session: titled, “Challenging Neo-Liberal Narrative in Nigeria’s Education Sector: ASUU’s 2022 Strike and Matters Arising”.
Speaking on the theme, Akinwole said the impact of neo-liberalism on education was complex and multifaceted.
He said the lecture was appropriate “at this period in our nation’s march toward self-reliance and independence in the right sense of the word.”
He added: “Expectedly, the lecture beams light on the way forward in continued relevance for scholars and all concerned leaders of the progressive movement in Nigeria.”
A Professor of Botany, Odoje Biodiversity Centre, Ogbomoso, Prof. Omotoye Olorode, spoke on the foundationality of the neo-liberal narrative as expressed in the Nigerian ruling class’ response to ASUU’s strike.
He said: “ASUU’s struggles arise out of the necessity to build a country in which every citizen shall be free, educated, well fed and healthy. We cannot abandon these struggles and yet be worthy of being called ‘intellectuals.’ This is where we stand. This is where we ought to stand.”
