The Speaker of the House Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has clarified that the Federal government paid members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) half salary in the month of October after their eight months strike to prevent moral hazard.
Newsonline reports that Speaker Gbajabiamila added that the Federal government was being careful to avoid actions that would encourage disruptive industrial action from ASUU members.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Speaker on Monday, stating that the president, Muhammadu Buhari was concerned about the challenges facing education and would address them.
Gbajabiamila added that the Federal government maintained that it will not pay for the months ASUU spent on strike.
The statement read, “When the Academic Staff Union of Universities called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities, and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption. This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision.
“Since then, the Executive and the House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike. We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes the sum of N170,000,000,000 to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers. The bill also includes additional N300,000,000,000 in revitalization funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.”
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The House of Representatives Speaker added that the government has commenced work to integrate the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) designed by ASUU into the payroll system.
“Furthermore, the House of Representatives has convened the Accountant General of the Federation, the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of elements of the 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.
Femi said on the half payment of salary for lecturers, “The Executive position that it is not obligated to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is premised on the law and the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions. Nonetheless, interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers. We look forward to a favourable consideration by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who has manifested his desire to what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.
He added further on UTAS, “Implementing meaningful change takes time, especially when appropriations and modifications to systems such as IPPIS are required. Therefore, I urge all parties to be patient and grant each other the presumption of goodwill to the extent necessary to achieve our shared objectives.
“This is not a time for political brinkmanship. There is no more pressing objective than to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities. We must prevent this possibility by all means, as these disruptions risk the promise and potential of our nation’s youth.”
“To that end, the House of Representatives is convening a National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform. We have called for papers and memoranda from members of the public. The submissions we receive and expert presentations at the Summit will inform our policy recommendations and actions,” Gbajabiamila said.
