The coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Benin zone, Prof. Monday Igbafen, has appealed to the Federal Government to revisit the agreement signed in 2009 over the salary structure of the union.

Igbafen, who stated this at the Dennis Osadebay University (DOU), Asaba, Delta State, said that the Benin zone of ASUU, comprising University of Benin; Ambrose Alli University; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko; Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa; Delta State University, Abraka; Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun; University of Delta, Agbor; Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba; and Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro, have generally agreed to beg the Federal Government once again to implement the 2009 agreement it entered into with ASUU.

According to the zonal coordinator, the union is compelled to call on the Federal Government again at this defining moment in the history of university education in Nigeria, as it has become crystal clear that the Federal Government and its agents are inexplicably determined to cripple academic activities in the nation’s universities.

“Since the suspension of our last strike action in October 2022, the Federal Government is yet to make good its promise to actualise the review of our dismal conditions of service.”

Igbafen explained that the Federal Government was still unwilling to pay years of arrears of promotion entitlements, but rather pays lip service to the duty of adequately funding education and continues to be reluctant to release their withheld three and a half months’ salaries and third-party deductions.

“It is unimaginable that, in the face of the daily exponential increases in the cost of basic services and goods in Nigeria, university lecturers have been abandoned to grapple with the harsh realities of a poor salary structure they have had to endure for 16 agonising years,” he said.

He added that “the result of this has been a steady erosion of the humanity and integrity of university lecturers and a corresponding flight by a good number of them to other better-organised economies, whereas it is a known fact that no nation can develop beyond the quality of its education.”

He further explained that it is worrisome that the Federal Government will continue to treat the education of its citizenry with levity.

“Our union is deeply concerned that despite its best patriotic efforts and patience, the agents of the federal and state governments have deliberately neglected all the promises they made to our union, and our members are appalled by this refusal of the Federal Government to deal with the issues that affect their welfare.

“We are equally determined to take necessary steps to press home these demands. The government’s failure to address our demands is no doubt a direct invitation to crisis, and this crisis is imminent.” (Daily Sun)