The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, on Tuesday embarked
on a nationwide protest to highlight what they described as the Federal
Government’s persistent neglect of its long-standing demands.
At the University of Jos, ASUU members staged a demonstration before
addressing journalists, where they announced their outright rejection of the
recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme.
ASUU branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, said the initiative is not a
solution but a deliberate attempt to push lecturers deeper into financial
hardship.
According to him, the loan scheme is a poison chalice designed to
impoverish lecturers rather than address the reality of their economic
situation.
He argued that university teachers do not need loans but payment of their
legitimate entitlements that the government has failed to honour.
At the University of Lagos, ASUU members who joined the nationwide
protest demanded better treatment of lecturers and the education sector.
The placard-bearing lecturers demanded the Federal Government’s
payment of arrears, improved welfare and renegotiation of the 2009 federal
government ASUU agreement.
The situation was the same at the University of Benin in Edo State and the
Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State, where protesting lecturers
sent a strong message to the Federal Government to honour the 2009
agreement or risk another strike action.
Chidozie Chima | September 26, 2024
