By Matthew Tabe
No respite yet as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Federal University, Lafia (FULafia), Nasarawa State on Friday, embarked on protests over half payment of their salaries by the Federal Government.
The union members staged a solidarity march in Lafia round the premises of the institution, expressing their grievances and demanding for complete payment of salaries.
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The union also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment and Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, for allegedly mishandling the strike by the union.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as, “pay withheld salaries now,” “Adamu Adamu has failed,” “No to Pro-rata salary,” “pay attention to education,” “restore dignity of universities,” among others.
Addressing the protesting lecturers, Mr. Adam Al-Amin Abdullahi, ASUU FULafia Chairman, said that they were protesting the pro-rata salary payment and want the government to pay them their eight months outstanding salaries.
He explained that the work of a lecturer is beyond just lectures in the classroom.
“We carry out research in the library, laboratory, our homes, supervise projects and mark scripts.
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“So, the government cannot calculate our salaries based on lectures as if we are casual workers.
“We have demonstrated maturity and love for the educational development of the country by resuming to work, so the government should do the needful to avoid further crisis in the sector,” he said.
He noted that the union had declared lecture-free-day in the university on Friday because of the protest, and might step up the protest if the government still refuses to pay them.
Some students who spoke on the protest appealed to the Federal Government to address the issues of welfare of the lecturers to enable them have smooth academic calendar.