The Academic Staff Union of Universities has demanded the payment of their withheld eight month salaries, urging stakeholders to interevene in averting another showdown from the academic body with the Federal Government.
It called on concerned parties and good-hearted Nigerians to put pressure on the federal government to release the eight months of back pay that had been withheld from its members.
According to The PUNCH, this was disclosed by the University of Ilorin, ASUU Chairman, Prof. Moyosore Ajao, on Monday during a special congress of the local branch held at the university’s main auditorium.
Ajao’s speech was read by the Secretary of the union, Dr AbdulGaniyu Olatunji.
The university lecturers held a solidarity rally on campus before returning to the auditorium, where they spoke to reporters about ‘Casualisation of Intellectual Workers in Nigeria: Prelude to Our Response.’
Ajao said, “Members of the public are hereby sensitised and put on notice again that a fresh crisis, which will surpass all previous ones, is looming again in Nigerian universities as our members cannot and will not continue to do free work that will not be remunerated. We hope that with this notice, all relevant stakeholders, who have the ear of the government, will act fast before the fragile peace restored on our campuses nationwide collapses.
“Our union and its members should not be held responsible for the consequences that its actions, in response to the crude wickedness of the Nigerian state, would have on all stakeholders.” he said.
