Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Kano zone has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to faithfully implement the content of the agreement it freely signed with the union describing it as the only way to avoid strike.
The call was made by the zonal coordinator Kano Zone, Comrade Abdulqadir Muhammad, during an emergency press conference at the end of a zonal meeting comprising the seven universities in the zone yesterday in Kano where contentious issues were discussed by the union.
These issues include renegotiation of the Federal Government – ASUU 2009 agreement which was reached when the exchange rate to the Dollar was N146.7 and currently has risen to N1,900 per Dollar. The union says this has eroded their salary by 90 percent.
They lamented the refusal of the Nigerian government to sign a draft agreement reached with the union even after changing the leaders of the negotiation committee severally.
“Therefore, ASUU calls on the President Tinubu-led administration to immediately set in motion the process of upward-reviewing and signing of the Nimi Briggs Committee’s renegotiated draft agreement as a mark of Goodwill and to forestall industrial crisis and restore hope for Nigeria’s public universities,” the union said.
However, the union confirmed that its members have started receiving partial payments of their seven and half months withheld salaries. They called on the government to follow the path of honour and pay the remaining balance.
In the same vein, the Kano zone called on the Kaduna State government to immediately and unconditionally pay the five-month, May – September 2022, withheld salaries of Kaduna State University.
The union further condemned what it termed as usurpation of the university autonomy by dissolving the governing councils of public universities describing it as a contravention of the Universities Miscellaneous Acts and respective university laws.
The union also called on the government to be paying Earned Academic Allowances and promotion arrears which it had abandoned after agreement.
They called on the government to urgently review the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) Act to check proliferation of universities in the country without adequate provision for funding.
On the state of the nation, ASUU expressed worry over the spate of insecurity, worsening poverty, unemployment, rising cost of living, livelihood displacement, and heightened destitution in the country.