The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) chapter has protested the “casualisation of intellectual workers” in Nigeria.

Rasheed Adeoye, the former ASUU chairman at the university, described half salaries reportedly paid by the government to members of the union for October as unacceptable and would be resisted by the union.

“As a law-abiding union, we have heeded the directive of the court, which directed that we resume our duty posts while the substantive matter is being heard. However, after the resumption and to our utmost dismay, the government decided that half salaries be paid to our members for the month of October 2022,” said the ASUU ex-chair. “This development is unacceptable and would be resisted by our union.”

He added, “The fact is that academics are not casual workers. The law of the land is also clear on this; indeed, the National Industrial Court made it clear in a landmark judgment in 2020 that tenured staff cannot be paid pro-rata.”

Olatunji Abdulganiyu, the union’s secretary, asserted that ASUU would respond appropriately to the unpopular policy and threatened that the union would abandon the works that had accumulated for the period the government “falsely claimed that our members have not worked.”

Mr Abdulganiyu explained, “Members of the public are hereby sensitised and put on notice again that a fresh crisis, which would surpass all previous ones, is looming again in Nigerian Universities. Our members cannot and would not continue to do free work that would not be remunerated.” 

He hoped that the notice, relevant stakeholders, “who have the ears of the government, would act fast before the fragile peace restored on our campuses nationwide collapses.”

(NAN)