The National Universities Commission (NUC) has cleared the air on the controversial N92 billion earned allowances contained in the 2009 agreement reached by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government.
The NUC said the earned allowances of N92 billion in the agreement covers the earned allowances of the academic and non-academic workers.
While the Federal Government claimed it had released N100 billion for infrastructure in federal universities, ASUU insisted that the amount due for injection is N500 billion.
The government also said it has met substantially, the agreements reached with the union, except the N92 billion earned allowances.
But in a letter dated August 26, 2013, signed by the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, addressed to the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, the NUC boss directed the governing councils to provide oversight in the administration of the released earned allowances to “deserving academic and non-academic workers”.
Speaking in a telephone chat with reporters in Ibadan, the Chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter of ASUU, Dr. Segun Ajiboye, said ASUU had been vindicated by the campaign of calumny by the Federal Government to the effect that the earned allowances was for only academic workers.
He described the initial claims by the government representatives that ASUU was demanding N92 billion earned allowances for its members as a blackmail, which has “now fallen like a pack of cards”.
According to him, “Nigerians should by now see that our government is a government of deceit”.
“The government that told Nigerians some weeks ago that ASUU was demanding N92 billion as allowances for its members has now written a letter that the amount is for both academic and non-academic workers in Nigerian federal universities. This shows our government lies with impunity. Nigerians should know that the N92 billion is to service earned allowances of the academic and non-academic workers in the universities for three and a half years from 2009. ASUU is insisting on total implementation of the 2009 agreement and the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). We are not interested in tokenism. As at now, the amount due for injection into the universities in the agreement is N500 billion and not N100 billion. We want our universities back on track and we want the best for our children. Nigerians should join the union in pressurising the government, which had lied that it had no money, only for it to approve N100 billion. Federal Government must inject the remaining funds into the educational system.”
THE NATION
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