By Matthew Tabe
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, has released the signed document where the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila committed himself to offsetting the arrears of salaries owed members of ASUU.
The document, which was exclusively obtained by The Quest Times on Thursday, is dated 12 October, 2022 and duly signed by Gbajabiamila.
The Quest Times reports that the Speaker had earlier denied committing himself to offsetting the salary arrears of ASUU members.
Gbajabiamila made the denial in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, by the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Information, Mr Benjamin Kalu.
The denial followed alleged claims by the ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke that Gbajabiamila had failed to deliver on a written commitment that the government would offset the lecturers’ salary arrears immediately after calling off their strike.
According to Kalu, the Speaker never made such commitment. He however said that the House had resolved to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and provide more money for universities revitalisation fund.
According to him, these commitments have been reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which include N170 billion to raise the welfare package of university lecturers and additional N300 billion revitalisation fund.
“For this reason, the 9th House of Representatives has been consistent in our efforts to explore avenues for reform and improvement to the framework of public education in the country from basic education through tertiary.
“Our objectives in this regard will not be achieved when stakeholders choose to ignore substantive issues and the consideration of bold ideas in favour of cheap blackmail and immoral propaganda,” Kalu said.
Apparently reacting to the Speaker’s denial, ASUU President on Thursday released the signed document.
The document titled, “Resolutions Reached between the leadership of the House of Representatives led by the Hon. Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and the academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the 12th October, 2022 in the office of the Speaker.”
The resolution of the document reads “After exhaustive deliberations which necessitated several visits by Mr. Speaker to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, HE, Muhammadu Buhari, the Hon. Speaker called for another meeting with officials of ASUU on Monday 10th October, 2022 and the meeting came to the following resolutions;
“New Salary Structure, the Speaker affirmed that the President has agreed to review upwards the salaries of academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, with a financial implication of about N170billion as already Incorporated in the 2023 budget.
“The Revitalization Fund, the Speaker affirmed that the federal government has provided N300billion for revitalization of our Universities as already Incorporated in the 2023 Budget laid before the National Assembly by the President.
“The House will address the issue of Earned Academic Allowances in the 2023 Budget.
“The Visitation Panel report will be released to the House Representatives.
“Withheld Salaries, the no work no pay policy of Government remains a subsisting for all industrial action but government will on a special ground make a concession to ASUU to pay a part of its salary during the strike period.
“UTAS, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the UTAS team of ASUU will meet to harmonize a payment platform that will capture all the peculiarities in the academic staff salaries with the participation of House Committee on Education.
“Non-Victimization, no member of ASUU shall be victimized in any form whatsoever on the account of their participation in the strike action which commenced on 14th February, 2022.”
The document concluded by saying that ASUU will immediately return with the above resolutions to its leadership structure and membership with a view to ending the strike action.
The copy of the document is made available below.