The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has revealed that 84 of its members passed away between May and August 2024 due to economic hardship and unpaid salaries.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television.
He expressed deep concern over the situation, stating, “In the past three months, from May to August (2024), Nigerian universities lost 84 academics to death. In three months, because of what our people are going through.”
He further criticized the government’s handling of the union’s grievances, particularly the continued withholding of salaries under the ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy, implemented after the 2022 strike action.
“Despite this crisis, you are holding somebody’s three-and-a-half or more salaries on the no-work, no-pay, you are owing this money. People are trying to survive, you introduced fuel increase, you introduced electricity increase, and everything is gone now,” Osodeke said.
Osodeke called for increased funding for Nigerian universities, emphasizing that proper remuneration for lecturers is key to restoring the sector’s effectiveness. He revealed that despite being a professor for 15 years, he earns N420,000 monthly, stressing that without competitive salaries, Nigerian lecturers cannot compete on a global scale.
On September 25, 2024, ASUU gave the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to resolve lingering issues, including the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the release of withheld salaries from the 2022 strike.
The strike, which lasted eight months, was aimed at improving the welfare of university staff. In response, the government under former President Muhammadu Buhari had implemented a ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy.
While President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four months’ withheld salaries in October 2023, Osodeke insisted that ASUU members should be paid in full for the entire eight-month period of the industrial action. He criticized the government’s partial payment, arguing that it has not resolved the hardship faced by university staff.
