ASUU FIXES DATE FOR CRUCIAL NEC MEETING 

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will on Saturday hold a crucial meeting.

TEAM PLATO REPORTS gathered that governing body of the union would meet to take decisions affecting members’ welfare

A member of NEC who spoke with Daily Sun said the meeting will be held at the University of Calabar.

The planned meeting is coming hours after the Federal Government paid university lecturers full salaries for November.

ASUU members in the past few days had protested against the half the salary paid by the government in October and the non-implementation of their demands.

The NEC member shedding light on the agenda of the meeting said decisions would be taken based on issues being discussed and the inputs of every member.

Another NEC member said the issue of another strike would not be known until reports are taken and discussions on issues are concluded.

He said, “I don’t know about the agenda for the UNICAL meeting. It is when we get there that issues are brought up for discussion. You know we have contentious outstanding issues with the government that has not been resolved.”

Other NEC members were not ready to speculate about the agenda for the meeting and the outcome, “we are going to the NEC meeting to discuss issues affecting university education and the welfare of our members, who are not happy about the situation.”

Speaking on the November salary paid by the Federal Government, some lecturers said they received below their monthly take-home pay.

A senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt forwarded the bank alert to his chairman and complained about the amount he received for November salary.

The lecturer said, “I have been a professor for 13 years. This is my salary for November 2022. I do not have any loan obligation(s). This is the level we have descended as hardworking citizens. Yet our President can afford to go on foreign trips to take care of his health. Let me state this once more, this country is sitting on a keg of gunpowder.”

ASUU Lagos Zone Coordinator, Adelaja Odukoya said “Not really. But for curious reasons, the salaries went down for some. Trying to get more details. It is the IPPIS effect.”

The former ASUU University of Ibadan chairman, Prof Deji Omole said, “that was the general trend. The issue is with IPPIS, you don’t know if you will receive salaries at the end of the month and if you are lucky to be paid you can’t predict how much you will be paid. The situation is very bad and demoralising.