The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the House made no commitment to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) towards offsetting salary arrears accumulated by academic lecturers during the eight months strike.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, Mr Benjamin Kalu, following claims by ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, that Gbajabiamila and the Reps failed to keep to their end of the agreements reached to end the strike.
No such agreement: Mr Benjamin Kalu stated that the Speaker never made such a commitment, adding that the House only agreed to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and provide more money for the Universities’ Revitalisation Action Fund.
Commitments to ASUU: The House of Reps stated the commitments have been reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which includes N170 billion to raise the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300 billion revitalization fund.
He added that the House has been working with key stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of ASUU’s University Transparency and Accountability Solution into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.
- “This effort is being supervised by the Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Rep. Aminu Suleiman,”
- “The public interest in ensuring a well-functioning tertiary education sector is a matter of paramount concern for all who understand the transformational role of education in any society.
- “For this reason, the 9th House of Representatives has been consistent in our efforts to explore avenues for reform and improvement to the framework of public education in the country from basic education through tertiary.”
The House added its objectives in this regard will not be achieved when stakeholders choose to ignore substantive issues and the consideration of bold ideas in favour of cheap blackmail and immoral propaganda.
What you should know: Nairametrics reported last month that Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) received their full salaries for the month of November 2022.
However, the 8-month salary arrears that members of ASUU have been agitating for still remain unpaid by the federal government.