Congress of University Academics (CONUA) members have demanded that the federal government pay their Earned Academic Allowances, third-party deductions, and withheld three-and-a-half-month wages.

In a statement released by the National President, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, the Congress also stated that the problem should be investigated because certain members’ promotion arrears had persisted for more than seven years.

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The group also expressed disapproval of its members’ omission from the committee tasked with renegotiating the 2009 Agreement that university employees signed with the government.

The union would like to draw President Bola Tinubu’s attention once more to the ongoing withholding of three and a half months’ wages because of a sister academic staff union’s strike action in the universities. As a union, CONUA has continuously insisted that it was not involved in the strike action and never proclaimed it.

The administration has grouped people who went on strike along with people who didn’t! This is unfair and amounts to penalising both the wicked and the innocent.The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) upheld CONUA as an autonomous union on July 25, 2023, and the Federal Government’s move really contradicts that ruling.

The Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8’s Section 43 (1b) states that “where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remuneration for the period of the lock-out, and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of period of employment.” The President should take note of this as it is also against the law to withhold the three and a half months’ salaries of CONUA members who did not declare or take part in any strike action.

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When the renegotiation committee was established on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, CONUA also observed that it was not invited. The Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Chief of Staff, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Honourable Minister of Justice, and all other pertinent government agencies have received copies of the protest letters that the Union has sent to the Honourable Minister of Education and the Chairman of the Renegotiation Committee, Alh. Yayale Mahmud Ahmed. Therefore, CONUA is utilising this platform to insist that it be included in the renegotiation committee right away because if it doesn’t, it will be like shaving its members’ heads in their absence.

Through the Presidential prerogative, it was found that the third-party deductions for April, May, and June 2022 were not released when the four months’ (March, April, May, and June 2022) salaries were paid out of the seven and a half months of salaries withheld by the government as a result of the strike action began by ASUU. As a result, they have not been released as of yet. The Federal Government has not disclosed its whereabouts or said when it will be published. The union is adamantly calling for the government institutions in question to be ordered to provide these third-party remittances right away.

Promotion arrears for many academic staff members might last up to seven years, under some situations. Most of the time, these concerned academics are not at blame for the delay in promotion, and it would be double danger if they were then forced to endure unspeakable hardships due to the delay in paying the promotion arrears. This depressing situation has to be resolved quickly in order to increase the diligence of the numerous academics impacted by the ineffective postponement of payment of promotion arrears.

Since Federal Universities are struggling with a personnel deficit, the Federal Government decided to pay Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) for extra work done by professors at Federal Universities. This EAA payment was intended to cover the 2008–2009 (rainy semester) academic year. Four EAA tranches have been released by the Federal Government thus far, in 2013, 2017, 2021, and 2022. Up to four sessions were not fully covered by these releases, not to mention the full fourteen and a half (14½) sessions that demand payment. Using this platform, the Union is calling for the EAA to be released in order to cover the previously indicated time periods and expedite the best possible hiring of more academics.

Regarding the minimum age for admission to higher education, the body recommended that it not begin next year but rather that all parties involved in education should be consulted before the policy is put into effect in order to reinforce the current 6-3-3-4 system.