The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has concluded plans to embark on a one-day nationwide protest rally over the implementation by the Federal Government of a “no-work, no-pay” policy for lecturers in the country.
According to Tribune, the protest will be organized at the branch level of the union across public university campuses nationwide and it will take place as a free-lecture day for all lecturers who are members.
The chairman of ASUU, University of Lagos (UNILAG) branch, Dr. Dele Ashiru, confirmed this on Sunday, 13 November, 2022.
A source said: “We are protesting. Branches will choose their own dates, the government needs to understand that we are not casual workers.”
Confirming the development, the chairperson of ASUU, University of Lagos branch, Dele Ashiru, stated in a letter that the branch would protest on Tuesday, 15 November, 2022.
He said the aim of the protest rally is simply to draw the attention of Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to ASUU’s strong dissatisfaction of the Federal Government’s attempt at casualization of the academics in the country by using ‘no-work, no-pay policy’ to remunerate them.
He insisted that university lecturers are intellectuals and professionals and cannot, therefore, be treated like casual workers.
Ashiru pointed out that just as other lecturers in other branches of ASUU would do, all members of ASUU, UNILAG branch, are also expected to attend the congress and participate fully in the protest rally.
He said casualization of academics, who are intellectuals by any reason is totally alien to the academic system anywhere globally.
According to him, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, wants to prove that he knows more than every other person in the world but we will show him that his attempt to cage the lecturers, particularly from engaging in unionism would never come to pass as far as Nigeria is concerned.
The letter which was addressed to “all stakeholders” noted that the special congress/ protest rally against the casualization of intellectualism in Nigeria will hold on “Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at Julius Berger auditorium.”
This comes in the wake of Federal Government’s decision to pay the members of ASUU in pro-rata for the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day that they suspended their industrial action.
Recall that ASUU had embarked on an eight month strike that commenced on 14 February, and was suspended on 14 October, 2022.
