The management of the University of Abuja said on Friday that it is introducing a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy against any of the institution’s workers not found at their duty post.
The threat is not unconnected to the ongoing industrial
action by a faction of the institution’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU).
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah,
said the management has issued a circular mandating all academic staff members
to resume their teaching duties or face the consequences of unpaid salaries.
Mr Na’Allah, a professor, disclosed this on the
institution’s X page, and was confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES by university
spokesperson, Habib Yakoob.
He said the management of the institution has taken steps to
address all of the issues raised by the striking members of ASUU.
“It is morally bankrupt for people to expect to be paid
salaries for work they have not done,” he said.
But ASUU said it has yet to hear from the university since a
meeting that was held more than a week ago. He added that there was no
resolution or agreements reached at the meeting.
The institution’s chapter of ASUU embarked on an indefinite
strike on 2 May after accusing the university management of violating its
establishment laws, including appointments and promotions of members of staff
in the absence of a governing council.
The union also accused the university of shortchanging ASUU
in the establishment of the UniAbuja Microfinance Bank, which he said the union
had bought shares since 2017, stressing that the union is both a stakeholder
and a shareholder in the project.
The union’s chairperson, Sylvanus Ugoh, also condemned the
advertorial for the position of a vice chancellor to replace Mr Na’Allah
insisting that recruiting a vice chancellor is the responsibility of the
university governing council alone, which is currently non-existent.
Nigerian tertiary institutions including UniAbuja have
operated without a governing council since last June when President Bola Tinubu
dissolved them in a sweeping directive that affected all government
parastatals.
ASUU National body recently issued a two-week ultimatum to
the Nigerian government to reinstate councils whose tenures are yet to expire
and reconstitute those whose tenures already lapsed. ASUU said the absence of
councils has ushered in all manners of illegalities in the universities.
Issues resolved — UniAbuja
However, Mr Na’Allah said the university has taken steps to
resolve the issues in contention with the union.
He said the university management has agreed to delay the
2023/2024 promotion process until the governing council is in place, and is
willing to accommodate the concerns of the staff.
Regarding the advertisement for the position of a
vice-chancellor to succeed him, he said, the process has been put on hold until
the council is inaugurated.
“We agreed that since it was from the Minister of Education
and it has also already closed, no further processing will be done until the
Governing Council comes, and meanwhile, applicants who still bring their
applications after the deadline would be so indicated but not turned away,” he
said.
Regarding representation in the institution’s Microfinance
Bank, he said the management of the institution has approved an ASUU
representative on the board and has “sent its representative to management for
onward transmission to the board to incorporate such member on the board.”
The vice-chancellor, however, noted that ongoing promotion
exercises will be completed while new ones will be postponed until the
governing council is established.
He added that the university has committed to holding all
remaining deanship elections within two to three days of ASUU calling off the
strike.
He also said the university has agreed to submit all
recruited personnel to the council for ratification.
“The federal government is in the process of inaugurating
the new Council, all these matters are therefore in the process of final
resolution since Council would immediately delve into each of these and take
decisions for the university,” he added.
He appealed to ASUU to suspend the strike and work together
to resolve the issues.
“I am ready to temporarily pull the register but with the
expectation that all those calling me and some peace-loving ASUU
members/UniAbuja Staff would join in making the ASUU see reason why it should
call off its strike now,” he added.
No resolutions reached —ASUU
But Mr Ugoh, who leads the academic union in UniAbuja, said
though the union met with the management of the university, they are yet to get
back to them on their demands.
He added that there were no agreements or resolutions
reached at the meeting.
“The truth is, the union met with the management by way of
interaction because we actually discussed our demands. In fact, religious
leaders of the university were present in the meeting because they invited us,”
he said in a telephone conversation on Friday.
He added that the outcome was that the management should put
the union demands into writing and communicate the resolution to them.
“But today makes it the 9th day of the meeting and we have
not heard anything from them. So everything they said is not true. Nothing was
resolved in the meeting. We expected them to have communicated with us but we
haven’t heard anything since then,” he added.
Mr Ugoh also noted that he hasn’t seen any circular issued
by the university “although I have seen one or two daily reports that a
circular was released but I’m not aware of any.”
Speaking on the issue of signing in a register by the
academic staff, he said it is only on record that the management will open a
register to confirm their May salary.
He said, “The register was announced yesterday and is meant
for yesterday and today but it was later announced via an email that it has
been shifted to 3rd of June.”
He however questioned the power of the vice chancellor to
stop the salaries of ‘legitimately striking workers.’
“It seems ridiculous to me because you want to use a
register that was introduced barely 2 days before the end of the month to
confirm if workers worked or not in order to receive their salaries.”
“As far as I know, no member of the academic staff has
received payment for the month of May,” he added.