The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos Zone, has called on the Federal Government to pay its members a living wage instead of the statutory minimum wage.
Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Adeola Nassir, made the appeal during a press conference at the union’s secretariat at the University of Lagos. The call came two days after ASUU members staged a peaceful protest on campus to demand the payment of outstanding salaries.
Nassir argued that the current minimum wage was grossly inadequate given Nigeria’s economic realities. He said the union had held several meetings with government agencies to press for the settlement of four years’ promotion arrears, unpaid wage awards and palliatives, but “no payment has been made to date.”
Warning that ASUU could embark on a nationwide strike at any moment, Nassir stressed that Nigerians should “hold the government responsible, not ASUU” if such action takes place.
He also accused the government of undermining university autonomy by releasing funds directly to staff rather than through the institutions. On the Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund, which was meant to provide academics with loans of up to ₦10 million, he claimed the scheme had been reduced to largely inaccessible loans.
Nassir said ASUU would resist any attempt to entrench poverty among lecturers, vowing that the union remained committed to defending Nigeria’s university system.