The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities (CVC) has told President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime to immediately pay N50 billion for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its months-long strike while urging ASUU to be patient for another N170 billion and other outstanding bills imposed on the regime.

According to a statement issued by the chairman of the committee, Sulayman Abdulkareem, after a brief meeting with education minister Adamu Adamu on Tuesday.

The committee said the Buhari regime needed to reconsider its decision on ‘no work, no pay’ and pay the withheld salaries of the striking lecturers in the interest of Nigerian students and include the N170 billion revitalisation fund for universities demanded by ASUU in the 2023 budget while urging the lecturers to exercise patience with the regime.

Similarly, the vice-chancellors called for salary adjustment, especially in the present dispensation where the templates used by the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission and the IPPIS have depleted the salaries of academics and vice-chancellors to an all-time low.

The committee sympathised with students, parents and other stakeholders over the prolonged strike, noting that there is a need for all academic stakeholders to discuss the funding and governance structure of university education in Nigeria.

“The federal government should consider this demand, source for funds, and pay this N50 billion now as a sign of goodwill and keeping faith with the 2020 MOA,” the committee’s statement said. “ASUU should exercise patience while the federal government should be honourable to include this demand in the 2023 budget as promised.” 

The committee added, “ASUU should reconsider its position and reciprocate this gesture to suspend the strike.”

The CVC also “supports the call for salary adjustment, especially in the present dispensation where the templates used by the National Salaries, Incomes & Wages Commission and the IPPIS have depleted the salaries of academics and vice-chancellors to an all-time low.”

ASUU has been on strike since February 14 over poor funding of universities, poor welfare conditions, failure to renegotiate earlier agreements, and failure to adopt the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment system.