AAUA Lecturers Speaks Over Unpaid Salaries, Shows Distress
The lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba Akoko, Ondo State revealed that Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo state is underfunding the tertiary institution which is even owned by the state.
This was revealed in weekend from the Congress where the lecturers said that all academic staff in AAUA have been on “amputated net salaries” for the past three years.
While speaking, the Chairman of ASUU, AAUA branch, Dr Simon Ehiabhi said that that the lecturers of the school were being owed salaries for July, August, September and October.
Likewise, the monthly subvention to the university was N212.5m in 2015/2016 academic session but unfortunately it drastically reduced to a sum of N148m in 2017 by the state government at a time when the number of academic staff increased from 382 to 456.
Dr Simon Ehiabhi said that the drop in the monthly subvention and budgetary allocation to the university is negatively affecting the capacity and responsibilities of the staff to discharge their responsibilities including the non-payment of their salaries.
He also said that the university campus was now full of staff with sad faces, wallowing in pains, sickness, deprivation, frustration and haplessness even though the university had been rated as the best state tertiary institution in the country by the 2020 webometrics ranking due to the commitment of staff.
Furthermore he said the staff have subjected to poverty as a result of non-payment of lecturers salaries as and when due.
“The union, therefore, finds it difficult to understand the rationale behind the reduction of the budgetary allocation to a growing institution as AAUA by the state government.
“It is, therefore, disheartening to note that because of the drastic drop in subvention, which amounts to under-funding, the university is owing ASUU-AAUA over N12m as members check-off dues, while the Academic Staff Cooperative Multipurpose Society is being owned over N100m which are deductions from academic staff salaries.
“As a result of non-release of the union’s check-off dues, it has become extremely difficult for the union to carry out some of its statutory functions to members in particular and the general public, while the ASCMS is also going through difficult challenges in promptly meeting the financial needs of its members as the union has not received their deductions since January 2020 asides the backlog of other deductions.”
He thereafter advised the state government to as a matter of urgency bail the university out of its present financial predicament as a short term measure for the institution to offset all outstanding salaries including the cooperative deductions to avoid imminent crisis and industrial disharmony.
“As a long-term measure, the budgetary allocation (subvention) to Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko should be appreciably increased to be able to accommodate staff wage bills and other university activities.
“The union is calling on the Governing Council of the university under the leadership of Tunji Abayomi to assist the institution in terms of sourcing for funds and also persuading the visitor and governor of the state to urgently intervene to rescue members of staff and university from extinction.”
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