Some Polytechnic Lecturers Earning Less Than NYSC Members — ASUP
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) at the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Kaduna State, has lamented that some of its lecturers earn salaries lower than the allowances of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
Recall that the Federal Government recently increased the allowances of corps members to N77,000.
According to chairman of the ASUP chapter, Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, an assistant lecturer’s net pay is N64,400, which is far below the monthly allowance of NYSC members.
Suleiman, in an interview with newsmen in Zaria on Thursday, noted that the disparity has led to a brain drain, with many lecturers leaving the institution for better-paying jobs.
“This, among other reasons, caused the institution to experience drastic brain-drain and many lecturers are on the verge of leaving the institution.
“We lose cohorts of lecturers to Federal University of Transportation Daura, Katsina State; Federal Polytechnic Gombe and Kaduna State University, KASU, among other institutions.
“We have an instance where a lecturer was sponsored to acquire masters and Ph.D by the institution upon his return; he found the situation unbearable and decided to leave,” he said.
The union’s demands include the implementation of the National Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Salary Structure and the implementation of the 65-year retirement age for non-teaching staff.
Also speaking, Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic ( SSANIP) Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, noted that despite assurances from Governor Uba Sani in December 2024 that the salary structure would be implemented by the first quarter of 2025, no concrete steps have been taken.
“Regrettably, we are at the end of the second quarter of the year and no concrete steps have been taken to fulfil this promise,” he said.
He noted that the union has been agitating for improved salaries since 2009, with no meaningful progress made.
“We had series of agreements with the state government on June 11, 2010, and June 19, 2014 over the matter and nothing was done besides just signing the agreement and complaints of paucity of funds,” he said.
The union’s strike has brought academic activities at the institution to a standstill, with lecturers vowing to continue the action until their demands are met.
Some Polytechnic Lecturers Earning Less Than NYSC Members — ASUP is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
