The National Universities Commission Parastatals SERVICOM Committee, NUCPSC, revealed yesterday that workers in the country’s public universities, particularly lecturers who resumed duties a few weeks ago after months of strike, are burdened by the loss of eight months’ salaries and other welfare issues.
The two-day meeting, which began on Wednesday, was held at the University of Lagos, UNILAG, and was attended by representatives from universities across the federation.
Presenting a paper titled ‘Sustaining quality service delivery in higher education and the challenge of dwindling economy,’ Prof. Adamu Kabir of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, noted that quality service delivery could be hindered when the worker’s welfare is jeopardized.
Kabir said: “Some lecturers sold land, cars and other personal items to survive the eight months of no salary. How do you get the best from them?
“Employee welfare is very critical to delivering quality services. We are faced with a situation where we have a population of students increasing astronomically, while funding is decreasing.”