The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure zone, on Thursday, urged the Federal government to prioritise education in the country by paying its members a dignified living wage and ensuring adequate funding of the education sector.
Deploring the treatment of education as a commodity rather than as a tool for national development, the union expressed deep concern over the government’s inconsistent and dilatory approach to agreements, promises and negotiations.
Addressing a press conference in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, the coordinator of ASUU in Akure zone, comprising its chapters in Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), OAU, Ekiti State University (EKSU), Federal University of Technology (FUTA), Akure, among others, Professor Adeola Egbedokun, said the surest way to secure Nigeria’s future is to invest meaningfully in education.
Egbedokun, who chided the successive governments’ nonchalant posture to fulfilling agreements with ASUU, contended that these developments have continued to create tensions, industrial disharmony and threaten the stability and future of public university education in Nigeria.
While demanding the payment of a dignified living wage for its members, the don noted that “ASUU National Executive Committee (NEC) observes with grave disappointment the government’s continued failure to prioritise education, treating it as a commercial commodity rather than a social investment and a cornerstone of national development.”
Egbedokun said: “ASUU NEC is further alarmed at the undermining tactics of certain government officials, who continue to distort facts and misrepresent the status of the negotiations.
“The piecemeal payment of promotion arrears dating as far back as 2017, and the belated release of third-party deductions (deductions due to Cooperative societies, running into billions of Naira) owed to members for years, cannot and must not be presented as substantive achievements.
“These are at best settling debts owed by government. They are not solutions to the core issues threatening the survival of the university system. Government’s current posture of spin and self-congratulation rather than problem-solving is dangerous and counterproductive.
“With only a few days left in the agreed one-month window, the government must act with clarity, commitment, and integrity to reach a comprehensive and lasting resolution, “he posited.
Reviewing the progress of the renegotiation process since the suspension of the one month warning strike, Egbedokun recalled that “ASUU NEC rejected the proposed salary adjustment as a tokenistic and insulting gesture—a mere drop in the ocean that cannot stem the exodus of scholars or restore dignity to the academic profession.”
“In clear terms, the union has rejected the offer of 35% increase on the current salary of academics.
“While modest progress may have been recorded in some non-monetary areas, the critical issues of salary and conditions of service remain unresolved and demand decisive and courageous intervention.
“Education, as the bedrock of national progress, deserves special attention and strategic investment—especially in a country like Nigeria, where educational infrastructure and personnel welfare have suffered years of neglect,” he remarked.