The minister of state for education, Mr. Goodluck Opiah, has announced the government’s proposal to release N50 billion as earned allowances for university lecturers but insisted that they should not expect to collect salaries for the six months they have been on strike.
The minister stated this at the weekend in Owerri, Imo State, while addressing journalists.
He said the government had met all the demands made by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) adding that the only issue on the table is the government’s ‘no work no pay’ policy.
He therefore called on the striking lecturers to consider the plights of Nigerian students who have stayed at home for six months and call off the strike.
He said the government believes that the lecturers who did not go to work for six months did not earn their salaries and emphasised that the government had mapped out N50 billion to meet up with the earned allowances.
“ASUU should consider the plight of our children and return to school. A lot of us have our children in public universities here and the lecturers also have their children in schools in Nigeria.
“We don’t feel happy to return home each day and see that they schools are still locked, and I wonder how the lecturers whose children are in public universities feel when they return home each day and see that their children are still at home.
“The ministry of education is critical. It is a large Ministry that has so much in stock for the future of this country. The education sector is a very critical one and government takes this seriously. That was why the government had to bend backwards to settle all the grey areas made by ASUU. What is the issue now is that Government insists that it cannot pay for the six months the lecturers did not go to work. The policy of ‘no work no pay’ is a global practice and not a witchhunt of the lecturers.
“ASUU strike is an unfortunate one, an avoidable one. It does no good to the future of our children and the country. No doubt, lecturers have a right to make demands, be that as it may, the federal government has since engaged the situation and we are in talks with the lecturers.
“All grey areas have been settled, except that the lecturers are asking that the six months they have been on strike should be laid for. But the Federal Government said no, that ‘no work no pay’ policy is a universal policy.
“I think we cannot afford to set the wrong precedents by paying people who stayed at home for six months.
“How do we compensate the students for all the days the lectures were at home if we compensate the lecturers by paying them? If we can answer this question, that will help. However, I plead with the lecturers to please return to school,” Opiah said.
He also called on ASUU not to politicise the industrial action, saying that the call by union on the students whom they forced to stay at home to use their votes to remove the All Progressives Congress (APC) government, brings them into the political arena. He said such unguarded comments by ASUU gives the impression that some people want to politicize the strike.
“I feel bad each time ASUU calls on the students to use their voters cards and remove the APC Government. That call is in the wrong direction and should not have happened. Industrial actions should not be politicized by anyone, and making such unguarded comments means bringing both the issues and ASUU into the political arena and it’s not good for anyone. There are many issues raised by the lecturers and they have all been resolved,” he added.
The minister expressed optimism that with the recent suspension of strike by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and other Associated Institutions (NASU) on Saturday, the industrial action by ASUU would be over soon. “The federal government has made a lot of concessions to move the Education sector higher. What I think is left is the ‘no work, no pay’ policy and I am sure that ASUU will come to the realisation that their insistence is not realistic.”
