ASUU Didn’t Go On Strike Because Of Salaries – National Wages And Salaries Commission

Chairman, National Wages And Salaries Commission,
Dr. Richard Egbule, has said the Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU did not go on strike
because of salaries, because the commission
handled the issue of salaries well.
Egbule said this when Senate Committee on
Establishment and Public Service Matters visited the
commission on its oversight tour of the
commission.
He also exonerated the commission from the
agreement reached between the Federal
Government and ASUU.
“The Wages Commission has been up and doing in
everything concerning wages and salaries in this
country.
“When the controversial agreement was reached in
2009, we were there but not as negotiators. We
made it known to them that the route they were
going was wrong. Today, I wish to say that ASUU
did not go on strike because of salaries because we
handled it very well.
“What is controversial was the excess workload
allowance, but we have asked them to employ
more lecturers to avoid excess workload.
“There has never been a time any agency was
asked to go and compute its own salary, but they
allowed ASUU to do so. We needed a structural
increase where government agency would be
factored in.”
Egbule noted with regret that successive
leaderships of ASUU had established the culture of
using industrial action to announce their arrival.
Speaking earlier, Chairman, Senate Committee on
Establishment and Public Service Matters, Aloysius
Etok, noted that the ongoing negotiations between
the duo would be null and void without the input of
National Wages and Salaries Commission.
According to Etok, under no guise should the
Federal Government negotiate salary or wage
increase without the input of the relevant
commission.
He attributed most of the incessant industrial
actions in the country to sentimental negotiation
for salary increase in the civil service.
“We have said this earlier that on no account should
Federal Government negotiate salary increase or
anything that has to do with wages or salaries
without the input of the Commission.
“They should avoid the issue of sentimental
increase or negotiation and there should be no
exceptions. Four months is about a semester,” he
said.
Etok further stated that the commission was
expected to have played a prominent role in the
2009 agreement reached between the Federal
Government and ASUU.
The Etok-led committee also demanded
explanations from the commission on how the 2013
appropriation was implemented and why the
impact of the commission was not felt on civil
servants salaries crises that threaten some sectors
of the economy from time to time.
He lamented the withholding of part of the 2013
budget of the commission, stressing that the
commission required funds to carry out its research-
based projects, calling for its immediate release so
that the commission can implement its budget to
the full.
“The commission might look small but the
importance cannot be overestimated. We have
come to know your level of implementation of 2013
budget.
“We also want to know the relevance of the
commission to the Federal Government; why your
impact is not felt in the salary problems across the
country; why the commission would be there when
ASUU is on strike for months and who guided the
Federal Government in the agreement entered into
with ASUU in 2009?
“You cannot be ruled out in the scheme of things in
this country.
“They allowed ASUU compute its own salary,” Etok
said.