EDUCATION
ABSU ASUU: “No Going Back on Strike Until Nwaeze Is Reinstated, All Owed Salaries Paid”
_Union says lecturers owed up to 44 months, paid half salaries, N473m cooperative funds deducted_
Dr. Mbah said the union had met with ABSU management and rejected the suspension of Prof. Nwaeze over a Facebook post on workers’ welfare.
“We told them that we would not accept it for any reason and that, if there was any justification for the suspension, the laid-down procedures in the university’s edict should have been followed,” he said.
“For us in ASUU, we did not see anything wrong with what Prof Nwaeze did. The university claimed there were accumulated acts of wrongdoing by the lecturer before now, but we said those allegations were neither before us nor to our knowledge.”
Prof. Nnamdi Nwaeze, suspended lecturer
He said the union had forwarded the suspension letter to ASUU national headquarters, which directed them to resist it.
“Today, we made it clear to the government that even if they meet all our demands, we will not call off the strike unless the suspended professor is reinstated,” Mbah stated.
The state government, according to him, exonerated itself during a meeting with the union, saying it did not instruct the Vice-Chancellor to suspend the lecturer.
On the claims made by Prof. Nwaeze regarding salaries and welfare, Dr. Mbah said: “All the claims are true.”
He confirmed that ABSU lecturers are still being paid under the 2009 ASUU-FG salary structure, with many not placed on the appropriate scale after promotion.
“They pay us only half of our salaries. They also deducted N473m from our cooperative funds and have not remitted it to our account,” he alleged.
On salary arrears, the chairman said the problem of “salary omission” is widespread.
“That is true. It is not just one person, or 20, or 30. They are many. Some are owed 17 months, some 30 months, some 35 months, and some as much as 44 months. Others are owed two months, 10 months, or three months.”
He added that lecturers have also never received Earned Academic Allowance. “We only hear that lecturers in other universities receive it.”
ASUU-ABSU, with about 557 lecturers excluding new employments, embarked on a total and comprehensive indefinite strike after approvals from the national NEC.
Dr. Mbah said the union met with the state government on Friday to discuss resolving the strike.
“The meeting was about resolving the strike, but we told them there was no going back. They must pay everything they owe us,” he said.
He noted that Congress would meet on Tuesday to decide on any government offer.
“Initially, it was not encouraging. But today, it became encouraging. During the meeting, when we insisted that our colleague’s suspension must be lifted, they told us we would hear from them before Tuesday.”
The ASUU chairman described the welfare situation as dire, saying current salaries “cannot even take us from the classroom to the university gate, let alone take us home.”
He said lecturers with children in ABSU can no longer have school fees deducted from salaries, forcing many to have their children sent out of school for non-payment.
“We have been in this struggle since 2023 and have reached different agreements with the government, but they reneged on all of them,” Mbah said, adding that Governor Alex Otti had approved their demands on April 29, but nothing has been implemented.
He blamed the non-implementation on “the governor’s aides or officials, the Head of Service and the Accountant-General.”
“We have exhausted dialogue, diplomacy and every available avenue,” he said. “The only option left is to withdraw our services.”
Dr. Mbah urged members to remain calm, saying: “Their leadership is with them. We understand their pain, and we must get it right this time. We are not going to back out.”
