ASUU Deplores Payment Of N25,000 Salary To Private Varsity Lecturers

The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has deplored a situation where some privately universities in Nigeria pay some of their young lecturers N25,000 per month as salary.

Osodeke made the lamentation during a recent public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on TETFund and Other Matters.

The ASUU President attributed the development to the absence of unions in private universities, describing the poor pay as exploitative, unfair and unacceptable.

Osodeke said, “From my interaction with a Graduate Assistant in one of these private universities, I found out that he is being paid N25, 000 as monthly salary.

“And this is a young man with a Second Class Higher decree lecturing in one of these private universities. This is happening because there is no union in these universities to fight such exploitation.”

Osodeke also faulted the admission requirements in some of the private universities, saying that some of them admit candidates with 30 score in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations while some candidates who scored 180-200 and above can’t secure admission in some public universities.

The ASUU President deplored the proliferation of universities by the Federal Government, saying that the development is worsening the already poor funding of the institutions.

He cited Zaria and Lagos where the Federal Government has established two new universities despite the existence of the Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Lagos respectively.

“Imagine the government establishing another university in Zaria where you already have the ABU and the conversion of Yaba College of Technology in Lagos to another university. The distance between Unilag and Yabatech is just about 500 metres,” he said.

Osodeke called on the Federal Government to halt further establishment of universities and see to the expansion and adequate funding of the existing one.

He cited a case in Egypt where a single university could have close to 500,000 student population, stressing that older universities in the country should be empowered and funded to expand their curricula and student admission figures.

Prof Osodeke urged the Federal Government to be cautious with its ongoing Tax Reforms, especially clause 59(3) in the Bill, saying that such a clause in the Reform Bill has the potential to replace TETFund with the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

He charged the National Assembly Committees on TETFund to safeguard and preserve the autonomy of TETFund as the Finance Committee of the two chambers continued with public hearings on the Tax Reform Bills.

According to him, TETFund remains the most dependable source of regular infrastructure funding for the nation’s higher institutions, adding, “They should not kill the father (TETFund) because of the son (NELFUND).”

The public hearing was themed, “A Bill for an Act to Amend the TETFund Act 2011, to provide for conditions for Assessing of Funds for capital projects by beneficiary institutions and related matters.”

The event was anchored by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on TETFund and Other Matters, Hon. Miriam Odinaka Onuoha.

ASUU Deplores Payment Of N25,000 Salary To Private Varsity Lecturers is first published on The Whistler Newspaper