ASUU Informs FG Over Paid Half Salary: "We're Not Casual Workers"

 The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed concern over the pro-rata payment method used and said that its members were not temporary workers as suggested by the Federal Government's recent handling of them. In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja following a lengthy National Executive Council meeting, ASUU President Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke claimed that they were not casual employees but rather intellectuals who could not be paid on a pro-rata basis. He said the so-called "pro-rata" payment was not only an aberration but also a violation of all known rules of engagement in any contract of employment for academics anywhere in the world, and he was considering the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the Federal Government for paying its members for 18 days as their salaries for October 2022. Osideke pleaded for the patience of Nigerian students, parents, and other genuinely concerned people and organisations while remaining mum on whether or not the union will protest the most recent development by going on another strike. According to him, on October 14, 2022, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its eight-month strike in compliance with the National Industrial Court's directive and after taking into account the efforts of well-meaning Nigerians, including the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

"The Union's conduct was a demonstration of its obvious faith in the court and other governmental institutions and agencies to always prioritize the national interest over all other factors.

"As a union of thinkers, intellectuals, and patriots, we feel that this will not only help the process of peacefully resolving the issue, but will also lay the stage for peaceful industrial relations between the government and Nigerian workers generally." Unfortunately, the government's answer to ASUU's act of trust was to pay academics' wages for 18 days in October 2022 as a "pro-rata" payment, classifying them as hourly workers. Not only is this an anomaly, but it also violates every known rule of conduct in any contracts of employment for academics elsewhere in the world.

"On Monday, November 7, 2022, the ASUU's National Executive Committee (NEC) conducted a special meeting to discuss developments since the strike's suspension. NEC decried this attempt to completely convert Nigerian scholars into casual workers because it noted with dismay that compensating academics on a "pro-rata" basis, like casual workers, is unique in the history of university-oriented labor relations.

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