PUNCH
GBENGA OLONINIRAN writes about the plight of teaching and non-teaching university staff members as they struggle to survive the trying times in the country amid the biting economic conditions
The biting economic conditions in the country have not spared both the teaching and non-teaching staff members of universities, as much as it has not spared anyone. From the rising cost of petrol with attendant inflation in transport fare to the scarcity of fuel and the skyrocketing prices of foods and commodities, university workers appear to bear a greater brunt.
A release by a former chairman of SSANU at the University of Lagos, Oriwaye Adefolalu, trended last week after he lamented how professors and doctors at the university were scampering for a loan of N35,000 offered by their cooperative society.
In the release, Adefolabu noted that the senior staff members were rushing to get the loan to buy the subsidised “Ounje Eko” foodstuffs brought to the campus.
In September, the Lagos State Government commenced Phase II of the “Ounje Eko” market with a 25 per cent cut in prices. The market sells at different locations on Sundays. The PUNCH learnt that the subsidised foodstuffs are, however, brought to UNILAG on Fridays.
“There is no reason for us to pretend that all is well when nothing is well. It might interest you to read that my humble self, Prince Oriwaye Adefolalu, heard about the N35,000 each that the Unique Cooperative CMS, UNILAG, was giving out as a soft loan without interest to its members, so that they would have money to buy ‘Ounje EKO’ on Friday, September 20, 2024,” Adefolaju wrote.
“If President Bola Tinubu is not aware that the university members of staff are dying like chickens, let him come to the University of Lagos. The sick amongst the federal university staff members do not have money to buy food not to talk of drugs,” he added.
He lamented that the four-month salary of SSANU members withheld by the government was a major challenge for them amid the prevailing economic hardship.
Last week, the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions announced plans to commence an indefinite strike if their outstanding salaries were not paid within three weeks.
The unions are demanding, among other things, the payment of four months’ withheld salaries, improved remuneration, earned allowances, and the implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, invoked the “No Work, No Pay” policy when the four university-based unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, embarked on a prolonged strike in 2022.
In a statement jointly signed by the President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, the unions said the Federal Government was given a 10-day grace period, which expired on July 26, 2024, to pay the four months of outstanding salaries to university staff, with the threat of shutting down universities and inter-university centres if the payment was not made.
Speaking further in an interview with our correspondent on Monday, Adefolaju said he heard about the loan the cooperative was giving, and he went to the campus to get it for himself but was not lucky as he was told to come for another batch.
“Today (Monday), I was on the campus, and they told me that the N35,000 will not be ready until Thursday,” he said, lamenting that he spent N5,200 on transport to even get to campus.
