JOINT ACTION COMMITTEE OF NASU AND SSANU PRESS STATEMENT

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE ONGOING INDUSTRIAL UNREST IN THE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OVER THE LACK OF RESPECT FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO WITH GOVERNMENT TODAY, 22ND JANUARY 2021

 

We start this engagement with our friends in the media by wishing you all a happy new year 2021 and warm compliments of the season. We pray that the new year gives good tidings to us all, individually and collectively. Sadly, while we congratulate ourselves for seeing through 2020 to its end with high hopes and expectations for a brighter 2021, the situation across our University campuses and Inter-University Centres have been bleak and disillusioning, thereby not giving us cause to cheer and celebrate as we ordinarily should. This is on account of the unhealthy disposition of the Federal Government of Nigeria to Collective Bargaining Agreements and the contempt and disdain with which its officials and representatives hold the non-teaching staff members of NASU and SSANU in the Universities and Inter- University Centres.

 

Last week witnessed nationwide protests across all our Branches to sensitize Nigerians and draw the attention of Government and relevant stakeholders to the latent and growing industrial tensions in the University system. The aim of the protests was to create awareness on the anomalous and unhealthy state of affairs in the University system with a view to seeking corrections of those issues without necessarily grounding or paralyzing the system.

 

It is pertinent at this juncture, to give a background to the issues that have brought our University system to this sorry pass. You would recall that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU had embarked on a fourteen (14) day warning strike between Monday 5th and Sunday 19th October 2020 to protest a number of issues bordering on the welfare of their members and the general wellbeing of the University system. The two week warning strike culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday 20th October 2020, between the representatives of the JAC of NASU and SSANU on one hand and the Government represented by the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Rasheed and the Director IPPIS, Dr. Nsikak Ben. The contentious issues over which understandings were reached and an agreement signed are:

 

i. Inconsistencies in IPPIS payment

ii. Non- payment of Earned Allowances

iii. Non- payment of arrears of National Minimum Wage

iv. Delay in renegotiation of FGN/ NASU and SSANU 2009 Agreements

v. Non- payment of Retirement benefits of outgone members

vi. Teaching staff usurping Headship of Non-Teaching units in clear violation of Conditions of Service and Establishment procedures

vii. Neglect and poor funding of state universities

viii. Non- constitution of Visitation Panels for Universities

 

Having highlighted the issues as contained in the Memorandum of Understanding signed with representatives of Government on October 20, 2020, it is important that we give more background so that you would have deeper insights and understanding into the issues.

 

i. INCONSISTENCIES IN IPPIS PAYMENT

It is pertinent to inform you that the decision of the Join Action Committee to enrol members of NASU and SSANU into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was in national interest against the background that the IPPIS was being touted as a sure measure of checkmating the pervasive personnel and payroll indiscretions and infractions observed in the Nigerian University space. Since the leaderships of both unions had been at the forefront of demanding accountability, probity and transparency in the Nigerian University system, any measure or action that would stem the tide of corruption in the system would naturally resonate with us. However, before accepting that our members keyed into the IPPIS, we had placed a condition that the platform should be configured such that it would be able to cater for the peculiarities of salary payments in the university system. This conditionality was well expressed and it was as a result of this that the IPPIS could not take off immediately as the developers needed to upgrade the platform to be able to accommodate those peculiarities as expressed by our unions. It was only after a demonstration and presentation to the leaderships of the unions that the system had been upgraded and had integrated our peculiarities and found suitable for the staff of Universities, that we directed our members to enrol into the payment platform in November 2019.

 

It however turned out that while the Government had demonstrated and given assurances of the IPPIS satisfying the peculiarities of staff in the University system, the actual implementation showed contrary. By February last year (2020) when the first payment was made under IPPIS, so many anomalies were witnessed in the salaries of our members and since then, it has been a cacophony of irregularities such as underpayments, overpayments and multiple payments among others. The peculiarities of working in the University system were not addressed and the payments of salaries of staff were not only muddled up but mangled and mutilated. Many allowances due to our members were removed, for example, the payment of shift duty allowances to our members in the University Health Services among others. Third party deductions like Cooperatives and Union dues were either not deducted and in cases where deductions were made, they were not remitted. 

 

Because the first payment under IPPIS was made at the very onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, we could only communicate the relevant government offices seeking correction of the anomalies but could not hold physical meetings with the officials. After a few months and observing the unabating trend, we were left with no choice but to demand a total stoppage of the IPPIS and seek that the old payment platform under GIFMIS be reverted to, or the adoption of a payment platform that would serve the same anti-corruption purposes as IPPIS while taking care of the peculiarities of salary payments in the University system and that was how the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll Payment System (U4PS) was conceived. The U4PS is a payment platform designed by members of NASU and SSANU which serves the same anti-corruption purposes as IPPIS while also factoring the peculiarities of all interests, professional and groups working in the University system. It is important to state that the failure of IPPIS had thrown a challenge to our members whose primary functions and responsibilities in the University system include personnel issues and salary payments. No group in the University system understands the intricacies, challenges and manoeuvrings of salary payments as much as SSANU and NASU members and as such, we reject most vehemently any attempt to impose a negotiated alternative salary payment platform which does not have our input. 

 

The October 2020 MoU had resolved that a Committee would be set up to look into the complaints of NASU and SSANU with a view to correcting the anomalies identified with IPPIS. The IPPIS also agreed to liaise with the unions and the various institutions to identify staff who have been captured but not receiving salaries and pay them without delay. IPPIS also agreed to correct all identified anomalies in respect of third party deductions such as Unions dues, Cooperative societies contributions etc. It was resolved that all the above would be looked into within a time frame of two weeks.

 

You will agree with us that over twelve weeks have elapsed since 20th October 2020 and the situation has not changed. We have members who have not received salaries since IPPIS started payments about a year ago. We also have members whose salaries have been in percentages of what they should be on account of IPPIS. Those members are agitated and it would be irresponsible for the leadership to treat their plights with levity on account of their keying into a Government approved platform. They have a moral justification to be angry and so do we. 

ii.        NON- PAYMENT OF EARNED ALLOWANCES  

Earned Allowances is a product of Collective Bargaining from the 2009 Agreement of the Federal Government with the unions. Ideally, the Earned Allowances should have been embedded into the salaries and implemented immediately but for Government’s procrastination which led to a heavy accumulation of arrears and a situation where repayment has become a challenge.

 

The first tranche of arrears of Earned Allowances was paid in 2013, about four years after the agreements were signed. This payment was made through the Councils of the various Universities while the University Managements through the Registrars and Bursars, being custodians of all personnel and payroll records, were available to guide the Councils in the disbursement of the funds to eligible and deserving staff who had earned the allowances. In this first tranche, the ideal procedure which conformed with the laws and autonomy granted Universities was followed while some Inter- University centres were also catered for. 

 

When the second tranche of N23 Billion was released in 2017, the Federal Ministry of Education allocated the disbursement in clear breach of the laws and autonomy granted universities, 89% in favour of ASUU, leaving only 11% to the three Non-Teaching Unions. The Councils of the Universities were sidelined while Inter- University Centres were totally excluded. It took the strident intervention of the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, before a supplementary (though inadequate) amount of N8 Billion was released to cater for part of the shortfall granted to the Non-Teaching Unions.

 

Despite our protests over the surreptitious release of 2017 and the strident apologies from the officials in the Federal Ministry of Education that such would never repeat itself, another release of N25 Billion was made via a memo from the same Federal Ministry of Education dated 18th June, 2019, wherein it was expressly stated that ASUU be allocated 80% of the funds while the other three unions of NAAT, NASU and SSANU be allocated 20%. Again, the Councils were sidelined while Inter- University Centres were excluded.

 

Till date, we keep raising concerns about the implications of these irregular disbursements and “sharing” of funds by the Federal Ministry of Education because it erodes the autonomy of the Universities since the payments were not done through the Councils of the Universities as required by law. Similarly, the allocation formula which did not abide by any known or justifiable accounting practice was done without the inputs of the Registries and Bursaries of the Universities who are custodians of personnel and payment records. Lastly, the Audit Reports of previous disbursements had not been released and as such, the N25 Billion released was not the outcome of any forensic audit report. We challenge the Government officials behind these surreptitious releases and allocations of funds to provide evidence of the forensic audit report(s) that guided their decisions and make bold to say that their decisions were not guided by any audit report and as such, is an illegality and smacks of corruption.

 

Based on these inequitable allocations of funds along union lines, we had witnessed a disproportionate backlog of arrears in payments of Earned Allowances, compared with our ASUU counterparts. Following a fourteen-day ultimatum, we had embarked on a five- day warning strike between Monday, 19th and Friday, 23rd August, 2019, to drive home our demands for the release of a minimum of N30 Billion being part payment of Earned Allowances owed members of NASU and SSANU between 2011 and 2015. While the Government had begun discussions for the payment of arrears of Earned Allowances, the leaders of the Unions (SSANU and NASU) were being pressured by members to embark on a full- blown indefinite strike. That strike would have commenced at the inception of the COVID 19 pandemic but for appeals that a strike during a pandemic would have been the height of insensitivity. Our considered position was that the global health crises had thrown up serious challenges which a strike by SSANU and NASU would only compound. Consequently, with the easing up of the pandemic, discussions resumed, culminating in the 20th October 2020 MoU, where it was agreed that a sum of N30 Billion would be released for all the Unions in the University system and payments would be made to beneficiaries by the end of December 2020. A salient aspect of that portion of the MoU was that the “criteria for disbursement should be according to the computations from each University in line with what is outstanding for each staff of the University”.

 

Very unfortunately, a document which is in the public space, dated 24th December 2020 and signed by the Executive Secretary National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Rasheed titled “DISTRIBUTION OF N4O BILLION EARNED ALLOWANCES TO FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES” giving directive to the Accountant General of the Federation that the N40 Billion due for release should be made along Union lines at the ratio of 75% for ASUU and 25% for other Unions. While it is necessary to note that this skewed disbursement is in itself an injustice to the non teaching unions given the inequity experienced in previous tranches which had led to disproportionate backlog of arrears compared to our academic counterparts, we note that Professor Abubakar Rasheed was a party and signatory to the MoU signed with NASU and SSANU where it was agreed that the “criteria for disbursement would be according to computations from each University in line with what is outstanding to each staff”. We therefore demand the source of the computation from which Professor Abubakar Rasheed derived this allocation. That the Executive Secretary of NUC could co-sign an MoU and later issue a directive breaching that same MoU is indeed unfortunate. We wish to further question the place of University autonomy in this Unionized payment of Allowances without the input of the Governing council.

 

iii.       NON- PAYMENT OF ARREARS OF NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE

It is shocking that the Government is yet to respond positively to the issue of non- payment of arrears of National Minimum wage to our members in the Universities and Inter- University Centres long after many other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had been paid the arrears of the National Minimum Wage and Consequential Adjustment. 

 

This development is totally unhealthy for the educational sector as the staff of the Universities and Inter- University Centres have been neglected and treated as second class citizens in their own country.

 

You will recall that the National Minimum Wage was the outcome of rigorous tripartite negotiation processes culminating in the National Minimum Wage Act and Governments’ refusal to pay the arrears is tantamount to not complying with the provisions of the law more than a year after its implementation in other sectors. We have endured the pains associated with the non- payment of the Minimum Wage despite our efforts at drawing the attention of the Government to the plight of our members in this regard. 

 

In the MoU signed on 20th October 2020, the Federal Government agreed to the computation and processing for payment of the arrears within a time frame of two weeks. Unfortunately, three months after, nothing has been forthcoming. In the same vein, certain anomalies were observed in the salary table with respect to CONTISS 13 which have been pointed out to Government. The unyielding attitude of Government to correct this anomaly would leave our members in this category poorer than they were before the new National Minimum Wage. 

 

IV.      DELAY IN RENEGOTIATION OF FGN/NASU AND SSANU 2009 AGREEMENTS

The agreement willingly entered into and duly signed by the Federal Government of Nigeria with NASU and SSANU in 2009 fell due for renegotiation in 2012.

Despite several correspondences by the unions, it was only in 2018 that the FGN deemed it necessary to constitute a Renegotiation Committee with Dr. Wale Babalakin as the Chairman. Before the resignation of the Dr. Babalakin in 2020, only four meetings were held and not much was arrived at during those meetings. The foot-dragging that became the norm for that Committee was a worrisome development for the unions.

The October 20, 2020 MoU) resolved that the Renegotiation Committee would be reconstituted on or before 31st October 2020 and the renegotiation is expected to be concluded within six weeks or by 31st December 2020.

We wish to inform the press and the public that though the renegotiation Committee has been reconstituted with Prof. Munzali Jibril as the Chairman, none of the two Unions of NASU and SSANU have been invited for a meeting despite the fact that we are aware that the Committee has been meeting other groups within the University System. If the renegotiation exercise was to be concluded by December 31st, 2020 and the non-teaching unions (NASU and SSANU) had not been invited for a single meeting till date, it raises doubt about the commitment of Government and its negotiating team in ensuring a proper and timely renegotiation exercise.

 

v.        NON- PAYMENT OF RETIREMENT BENEFITS OF OUTGONE MEMBERS

The justification and benefit of retirees is that a labourer deserves his/her wages and that having served the nation meritoriously for years, they deserve to retire with good benefit packages. Unfortunately however, little has been done in the payment of retirement and death benefits to our retired and outgone members and the hardships caused by inexplicable delays in payment of retirement and death benefits to retired or departed staff is excruciating.

 

This was equally addressed in the 20th October 2020 Memorandum of Understanding, with a two week time-line within which the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), the IPPIS Office, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) and the Pension Commission (PENCOM) were to take further action and revert. Sadly, there has been no feedback on this aspect of the MOU which had a two week timeline even three months after.

 

vi.       NON- CONSTITUTION OF VISITATION PANELS FOR UNIVERSITIES

It is pertinent to acknowledge the effort so far over the issue of the constitution of Visitation Panels for Universities and Inter- University Centres as agreed in the October 2020 MoU. Although it was agreed that the gazetting of the memberships of the various panels would be concluded by the Federal Ministry of Education in two weeks, we still commend the fact that the issue was not abandoned like other issues in the MoU. We however note that the Panels are yet to be inaugurated, which contradicts the terms of the MoU that the Panels would be inaugurated latest by end of November 2020. Consequently, it is obvious that the machineries have not been effectively put in place for the take-off of the work of the Panels as required.

 

vii.      TEACHING STAFF USURPING HEADSHIP OF NON-TEACHING UNITS IN CLEAR VIOLATION OF CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND ESTABLISHMENT PROCEDURES

Universities and Inter-university Centres were established by laws and are run with Conditions of Service which are legal documents in their own rights. Whereas there are qualified non-teaching staff who could be appointed to take up the responsibilities of the headship of the non-teaching units as provided for in the conditions of service, most Universities and Inter-university Centres have consistently appointed the teaching staff into the such position. 

 

This “settlement” or “job for the boys” syndrome perpetrated by many Vice- Chancellors violates the provisions of the Scheme of Service and establishment procedures and also truncates the careers of staff in those Units. 

 

This has given rise to unhealthy rivalry within the system while productivity has been hampered in the process. We believe in the right things being done (putting round pegs in round holes) and that is why we are worried that if such anomalies are not addressed there will not be good progress in the system.

It is against this background that we call on the Federal Government to prevail on Vice-Chancellors to end these acts of maladministration so that things will move better in the Nigerian university system.  

 

viii.     NEGLECT AND POOR FUNDING OF STATE UNIVERSITIES

The last few years have witnessed a trend where State Universities have been battered and bruised due to neglect and poor funding by Governors who under the law, are Visitors to those Universities. We have also been witnesses to situations where Governing Councils and Managements of those Universities blindly support these negative actions of those Governors because of the fear of losing their appointments, unwittingly stunting the developments of those Universities. From amputation of salaries in some State Universities, mass sack and retrenchment in others and even proscription of trade unions, the trend has been indeed disturbing. Our colleagues in State Universities are going through harsh periods of non- payment of salaries going into upwards of months due to non- release of subventions by proprietor Governments. The conditions of service in State Universities are nothing to write home about and to compound matters further, State Governments that cannot adequately cater for the existing University decide out of cheap populism and political considerations, to establish more Universities. Many State Governments’ abdicate the responsibility of capital projects to TETFUND which is only supposed to be an interventionist agency. The October MoU sought to find means by which the Government could intervene in the challenges of State Universities but till date no effort has been made by the Government on this issue.

 

It had become compelling for our members to address these issues as they pose a lot of danger to the existence of the universities where they work and through dogged and untiring struggle over the years made several attempts to address the challenges but some State Governors have taken the draconian approach and proscribed the unions.

 

RESOLUTIONS

Our friends in the media, having painstakingly taken you through all the issues as agreed upon in the October 2020 Memorandum of Understanding with Government, it should be easy for you to deduce that out of the seven items upon which agreements were reached, only one item- constitution of Visitation Panels has been implemented. Even that item was not implemented within the time-line as agreed upon and is still only partially implemented. It was against this background that the national protests were embarked on the January 12 to 14, 2021, with a view to drawing the attention of necessary stakeholders to the issues and seeking redress as appropriate. Sadly, till date, no response has been gotten and it would seem that Government played deaf to our protests and lamentations. 

 

As stated earlier, the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU had been very circumspect about embarking on a strike action. It has never been our style to undertake strike actions at the drop of a hat. Sadly, it would appear that our non-belligerent modes of engagement have been taken for weakness and our belief in civil engagement and dialogue has been taken for granted. It is against this backdrop and in democratic spirit that the leadership of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU threw back the decision after the three- day protests to the various memberships across Branches on the way forward and the resolutions have been overwhelming. The resolutions across the Branches have been overwhelming and convey the disenchantment of members over the sorry state of affairs. 

 

The outcome of the resolutions across the Branches are as follows:

NASU            -             90% in support of strike

                                 10% against strike 

 

SSANU          -           83% in support of strike

                                 11% against strike

                                 6% indifferent

It is in line with the resolution of our members nationwide, that the leadership of the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU hereby resolve as follows:

i.                   That members of NASU and SSANU shall embark on an indefinite, comprehensive and total strike with effect from midnight of Friday, 5th February 2021.

ii.                 That two weeks’ notice effective from today, Friday 22nd January 2021, is hereby given to Government and relevant stakeholders of this development.

 

We thank you for listening.

 

 

Com. (Prince) Peters Adeyemi                                 Com. Mohammed Haruna Ibrahim

General Secretary NASU                                  National President SSANU