Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the University of Lagos and their students protested against the Federal Government’s failure to meet nine key demands of the union on Thursday.
The students supported their lecturers, carrying placards with messages like “Education is life,” “Proper funding of university education is non-negotiable,” and “Lecturers too want an earthly reward for teaching all professions.” They also urged the government to “Stop establishing universities you cannot fund.”
The protesters marched from Julius Berger Hall on campus to the UNILAG gate and back to the ASUU-UNILAG Secretariat. During the march, they sang solidarity songs and distributed handbills listing their nine demands.
These demands include the conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU agreement, the agreement based on Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021, and the release of withheld three-and-a-half months’ salaries due to the 2022 strike action.
Other demands are the release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments affected by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions, and funding for revitalization of public universities, partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget.
The demands also include earned academic allowances, partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget, addressing the proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments, the implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities, and the adoption of University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) instead of IPPIS.
ASUU-UNILAG Chairman, Prof. Kayode Adebayo, explained that the protest aimed to raise public awareness about the government’s insensitivity and silence regarding the union’s demands.
