The Academic Staff Union of Universities has warned Nigerians that if the Federal Government kept withholding their pay, a new crisis in the country’s universities would break out.
It also urged interested parties and well-meaning Nigerians to pressure the Federal Government into paying its members’ withheld eight-month salaries across the nation.
The University of Ilorin, ASUU Chairman, Prof. Moyosore Ajao, raised the alarm at a special congress of the local branch held at the university’s main auditorium on Monday.
Ajao’s speech was read by the Secretary of the union, Dr. AbdulGaniyu Olatunji.
He said, “Members of the public are hereby sensitized 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.”
Also, members of the union at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, protested against what they described as the victimization of lecturers by the Federal Government and its agents.
Speaking with journalists on Monday during a protest, the Chairman, of ASUU-UI, Ayoola Akinwole, expressed dismay that since December 23, 2020, the agreement between the union and the Federal Government had not been honored.
