The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria Chapter, has decried the poor salary structure of its members, revealing that assistant lecturers earn as little as N64,400 monthly, a figure the union says is lower than the allowance paid to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The union made this known on Thursday, June 19, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), amid an ongoing warning strike which began on June 16 and has halted academic activities across the institution’s campuses in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The one-week warning strike is being observed by all joint staff unions and is centred on the non-implementation of the National Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Salary Structure and the failure to enforce the 65-year retirement age for non-teaching staff.
Chairman of the union, Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, who also leads the Joint Action Committee of the institution’s staff unions, said the current pay structure has triggered a wave of brain drain within the institution.
He disclosed that an assistant lecturer at Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic currently earns a net pay of N64,400, which is far below the allowance of an NYSC member.
Mass resignations
Suleiman cited a case where a lecturer who was sponsored by the polytechnic for both master’s and PhD degrees returned only to resign due to poor working conditions.
However, having signed a bond with the institution, the lecturer was compelled to repay over N21 million to the school.
He described the situation as a bad omen for the education sector and warned that if not addressed, the institution risks losing its remaining academic workforce.
This, among other reasons, made the institutions to experience drastic brain-drain and many lecturers are on the verge of leaving the institution. He also added that the institution has lost several lecturers to better pay packages elsewhere.
“We lose cohorts of lecturers to Federal University of Transportation Daura, Katsina State; Federal Polytechnic Gombe, and Kaduna State University (KASU,) among other institutions.
“We have an instance where a lecturer was sponsored to acquire masters and Ph.D by the institution. Upon his return, he found the situation unbearable and decided to leave,” he said.
Kaduna government accused of unfulfilled agreements
Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic (SSANIP), NUBA branch, said the union has been pushing for improved salary structures since 2009, to no avail.
“We had a series of agreements with the state government on June 11, 2010, and June 19, 2014, over the matter, and nothing was done besides just signing the agreement and complaints of paucity of funds.”
He added that on Dec. 17, 2024, Governor Uba Sani assured us that the 2024 Polytechnic and College of Education Salary Structure would be implemented in the first quarter of 2025.
“Regrettably, we are in the end of the second quarter of the year and no concrete steps have been taken to fulfill this promise,” he said.
According to him, the state government has often cited low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as the reason for delays. However, the recent recruitment of 500 new staff suggests the financial capacity to meet the unions’ demands exists.
