By Charles Adegbite
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of refusing to pay N128.3 billion owed its members between 2009 till date.
President of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi told Daily Sun that the money was unpaid balance of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) which the federal government owed its members between 2009 and 2016.
He said the money “was in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Government and ASUU while resolving the crisis of June-November, 2013.
“Government has not paid a kobo beyond the initial N30 billion paid universities as part of EAA in 2013, a clear breach of the MoU,” Ogunyemi explained.
He lamented over the bad conditions in the Nigeria university system and alleged that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was the poorest, so far, in terms of government’s support for education.
“This year’s budget of eight percent to education is an indication that budgetary allocation to education dropped from 12 percent to 11 percent and 8 percent in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.”
“Beginning from December 2015, almost all public universities began to experience a drastic reduction in their personnel cost. For example, the University of Ibadan witnessed a shortfall of N308 million in December 2015, which was reduced to N96 million in January 2016,” Prof Ogunyemi added.
The university don expressed concern that, “while the Federal Government promised not to relent in implementing the MoU and to gradually work towards the 26 percent budgetary allocation recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the promise has not been translated into action,” he regretted.