The ongoing salary renegotiation between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may suffer another setback as the union has rejected the proposed 35 per cent pay increase for lecturers.

All 89 ASUU branches in public universities are said to have voted against the offer at the union’s recent National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja.

Naijaonpoint reports that the rejection raises concerns about a possible breakdown in discussions between the government’s re-negotiation team and the university lecturers’ union.

ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, confirmed the development, explaining that the union remains firm on the salary structure recommended by the former government re-negotiation committee led by Prof. Nimi Briggs.

“The recent offer by the Federal Government to us was a 35 per cent increase. When we had our meeting to suspend the warning strike, none of the 89 branches accepted the 35 per cent increase,” Piwuna told Daily Sun.

“All the 89 branches of ASUU in Nigeria rejected the 35 per cent increase. So, it’s a non-starter for us. We have Prof. Nimi Briggs’ benchmark, which we are discussing with them in the team, and we believe that’s what they should use.”

Naijaonpoint reports that the Nimi Briggs committee, which concluded its work in 2022, recommended a new salary scale for university lecturers, including a monthly pay of ₦1.2 million for professors in public universities.

The report, however, was shelved by the government. Currently, professors in Nigeria’s public universities earn less than ₦500,000 per month, less than half of what was proposed.

The union maintains that implementing the Briggs report is crucial to restoring dignity to the teaching profession and halting the exodus of academic talent from Nigeria’s university system.

In 2022, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) had recommended a compromise salary of ₦800,000 for professors, representing a 50 per cent increase, as against the ₦1.2 million earlier proposed by the Briggs panel.

That recommendation was also not implemented by the Federal Government, further widening the gap between the two parties.

With ASUU insisting on the Nimi Briggs template and rejecting the government’s 35 per cent offer, analysts fear that the ongoing renegotiation could reach a dead end, potentially setting the stage for renewed industrial unrest in the tertiary education sector.

Union leaders have repeatedly warned that without fair remuneration and improved working conditions, the nation’s universities will continue to lose qualified lecturers to better-paying institutions abroad.

For now, the ball appears to be in the Federal Government’s court as the academic union stands its ground on a deal it says reflects both economic realities and the true value of intellectual labour.

You may also like