Unilorin ASUU: Fresh crisis looms in public varsities

A fresh crisis in the educational sector may ignite if the federal government fails to address the controversial issue of ‘No Work, No Pay’ for the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

What happened: Following the resumption of duty after their eight months of strike action, the federal government implemented the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy with half salaries reflected in their October pay packet.

What you should know about the No Work, No Pay policy: The Federal Government had maintained its position that it will not make any payment of salaries to union members for the period marked by the strike action. It is the position of the law and practice, as well as the duty and responsibility of an employer to provide work for his employees/workers

What is happening: The University of Ilorin chapter, at a press conference in Ilorin on Monday, November 28, 2022, threatened a showdown with the federal government should the authorities fail to address the lingering ‘No Work, No Pay’ controversial policy.

Secretary of the Union, Dr Abdulganiyu Olatunji, urged stakeholders in the education sector to heed the warning of ASUU or risk unpleasant consequences of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy of the government.

He berated the ignoble stance of the government for withholding the eight months’ salaries of the university teachers based on the “ill-advised ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy.

What the Union said about the policy: The union declared that the policy is set to trigger fresh crises.

According to him: “In the coming days, the Union would respond by considering to invoke ‘No Pay, No Work’ and would abandon the works that have accumulated for those periods which government has falsely claimed through Chris Ngige, that our members have not worked.”

The warning: The union informed the public to take this notice again that a fresh crisis which would surpass all previous ones, is looming again in Nigeria stating that members of the union cannot and would not continue to do free work that would not be renumerated.

“We hope that with this notice, all relevant stakeholders, who have the ears of government would act fast before the fragile peace restored on the campuses nationwide collapses,” he stated.

The union expressed its resolve to continue to call the attention of the government to its responsibilities despite the treatment meted out to it by the government.