How minister, ASUU boss’ personality clash led to withheld Salaries
The personality clash between the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, and the National President of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, is responsible for the long period it took to resolve the industrial action by the union.
The clash is also responsible for the withholding of the seven months’ salaries of the lecturers, investigation by Vanguard has revealed.
It was gathered that the duo clashed because of comments reportedly made over concern raised over the mass migration of medical doctors from Nigeria to foreign countries.
While Osodeke was alleged to have blamed the development on the poor attitude of the government in handling such issues, Ngige was said to have retorted that somebody who studied soil science as Osodeke might not have value as a medical doctor.
Ngige is a medical doctor.
Also, ASUU depended on the Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, to help resolve the face-. off with the Federal Government but incidentally, Ngige got the ears of those in Aṣọ Rock on the matter more than Adamu.
It was gathered that the development made Adamu to say recently that he did not do well regarding the ASUU strike.
Meanwhile, one of the newly registered academic staff unions in the nation’s university system, the. Congress of University Academics,. CONUA, has said there was nothing available to it that indicated that the Federal Government would pay the backlog of seven months’ withheld salaries of ASUU members.
Speaking in a chat with Vanguard yesterday, the National Secretary, Dr Henry Oripeloye, said the union also got news of possible payment of the salary by the government from an online report by a news medium.
“We also heard the news just like other people who heard it from an online publication by a news medium.
As we talk, there is nothing concrete we can say we have on hand to confirm that.
“However, while the universities were shut down, we met the government team and told them our members were not on strike. If the universities were not shut down, our members would have continued to work.
”During the course of the meeting, we showed them evidence of our members working until the universities were shut down. Yes, they asked for the list of our members and we gave them from across the country
“As at now, the only salary we have earned since March this year is what they paid us for last month,” he explained.
Meanwhile, CONUA, in a statement late yesterday by the National Coordinator, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, called on the government to pay its members.
The statement read: “Congress of University Academics, CONUA, hereby calls on the Federal Government to,. without delay, pay members of the union withheld salaries.
”As a union, we have stated several times that we were not part of the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
“We first made this fact clear in a letter we addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment in April 2022. And, at a press conference we addressed in Abuja on August 19, 2022 we also stated it categorically that, as a union, we were not on strike, and, this being the case, the issue of no work no pay ought not apply to our members.
“Given the above, CONUA considers it unfair that the salaries paid to members of the union was done pro rata. What ought actually to have been done, and which we now call on the government to do, is to pay the backlog of our salaries from March to September (2022), in addition to what was cut off from our October salaries. We expect government to act on the demand immediately. “
For the position of ASUU, Osodeke had told our correspondent Thursday night that such matters would be discussed at the National Executive Committee , NEC, meeting of the union.
He was reacting to the payment of seven months’ salaries to members of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, MDCAN, of Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital chapter by the government.
A source in ASUU emphasised that the union would deliberate on the development and do a general appraisal of the last industrial action.
Recall that the government said it would invoke the ‘no work no pay’ policy in dealing with the lecturers who went on strike from February 14 to October 14, this year.
On payment of the salaries of a section of MDCAN, the Ministry of Labor and Employment came out weekend to say it acted in good faith as the payment was done for people who did not participate in the strike.
(Vanguard)
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