ASUU Members Nationwide Protest FG’s Loan Scheme, Unpaid Salaries
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday embarked on a nationwide protest to highlight what they described as the Federal Government’s persistent neglect of its long-standing demands.
At the University of Jos, members of the union staged a demonstration before addressing journalists, where they announced their outright rejection of the recently introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme.
ASUU branch chairperson, Joseph Molwus, said the initiative was not a solution but a deliberate attempt to push lecturers deeper into financial hardship.
According to him, the loan scheme was nothing but a “poison chalice” designed to impoverish university teachers rather than address the reality of their economic situation
He argued that lecturers do not need loans but rather the payment of their legitimate entitlements that the government has failed to honour.
“How can the government ask us to borrow money to pay for healthcare, school fees and basic needs when it is still owing us withheld salaries, allowances, and arrears?” he asked.
At the University of Lagos, ASUU members who joined the nationwide protest demanded better treatment of lecturers and the education sector.
The placard-bearing lecturers demanded the Federal Government’s payment of arrears, improved welfare and renegotiation of the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement.
Also, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Lagos chapter, has dismissed the Federal Government’s proposed loan scheme for university lecturers, describing it as a “Greek gift” and that its members are not interested in accepting.
This was made public by the union during a special congress held on Tuesday, where members also reaffirmed their support for the actions and strategies of the union’s national leadership in pressing for their demands.
The union also voted to support all the steps and actions being proposed by the national leadership to ensure the demands of the union are met.
Addressing members who marched through the campus from the Main Gate, the Branch Chairman, Prof. Idowu Kehinde, said if the FG fulfils its promise of giving lecturers their dues, there would not be any need for members to run after any loan.
“The loans are to be guaranteed by our union. This is not necessary; the Governing Council of each university can give loans to our members based on our conditions of service. If we are paid a living wage and if all our allowances are paid as expected, who would want to go borrowing money? Let them do the needful, and we are okay,” he said.
