The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed that 84 of its members died between May and August 2024 due to economic hardship and unpaid salaries.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made this startling disclosure on Channels Television’s Sunday programme.
“In the past three months, from May to August (2024), Nigerian universities lost 84 academics to death. In three months, because of what our people are going through,” Osodeke stated.
He highlighted the severe impact of withheld salaries under the ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy, coupled with rising fuel and electricity costs, on the lives of university staff.
“Despite this crisis, you are holding somebody’s three-and-half or more salaries on the no-work, no-pay, you are owing this money. People are trying to survive, you introduced fuel increase, you introduced electricity increase, and everything is gone now.”
Osodeke advocated for increased funding for university education in Nigeria, emphasizing that lecturers must be motivated to ensure the sector functions optimally.
He revealed that despite his 15 years as a professor, he earns only N420,000 per month, a salary he argues is insufficient for Nigerian lecturers to compete globally.
Recalls, on September 25, 2024, ASUU issued the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to resolve several lingering issues, including the conclusion of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the release of withheld salaries due to the 2022 industrial action.
In 2022, academic and non-academic unions in Nigeria embarked on an eight-month strike to press home some of their demands, including a better welfare package.
The administration of then-President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently invoked a ‘no work, no pay’ policy against the unions.
However, President Bola Tinubu, in October 2023, approved the release of four of the about eight months’ withheld salaries.
ASUU members were paid four months of the withheld salaries, while members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) were not paid at all. The two non-academic unions were on strike earlier in March, and Education Minister Tahir Mamman said the government would consider half-pay for them.
Osodeke insisted that ASUU members must be fully compensated for the entire period of the 2022 industrial action.
He argued that the Tinubu administration has not done lecturers any favours by clearing only four months of their withheld salaries.
