The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Monday warned Nigerians that if the Federal Government kept withholding their pay, a new crisis in the country’s universities would transcend.
It urged interested parties and well-meaning Nigerians to pressure the Federal Government into paying its members’ withheld eight-month salaries across the nation.
The University of Ilorin, ASUU Chairman, Prof. Moyosore Ajao, raised the alarm at a special congress of the local branch held at the university’s main auditorium on Monday.
Ajao’s speech was read by the Secretary of the union, Dr AbdulGaniyu Olatunji.
The university lecturers had staged a solidarity rally within the university’s campus before returning to the auditorium, where they addressed newsmen on the ‘Casualisation of Intellectual Workers in Nigeria: Prelude to Our Response.’
Also, members of the union at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, protested against what they described as the victimization of lecturers by the Federal Government and its agents.
Speaking with journalists on Monday during a protest, the Chairman, ASUU-UI, Ayoola Akinwole, expressed dismay that since December 23, 2020, the agreement between the union and the Federal Government had not been honoured.
Akinwole maintained that the government, rather than swinging into action to resolve the issues, embarked on playing politics with the lives of Nigerians and moved to stop the payment of ASUU members’ salaries for seven months, leading to starvation and death of some members of the union.
