The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has reported that 84 of its members died between May and August 2024 due to economic hardship and unpaid salaries.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made this startling revelation on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.
“In the past three months, from May to August (2024), Nigerian universities lost 84 academics to death. In three months, because of what our people are going through.
Despite this crisis, you are holding somebody’s three-and-half or more salaries on the no-work, no-pay, you are owing this money. People are trying to survive, you introduced fuel increase, you introduced electricity increase, and everything is gone now.”
Osodeke emphasised the need for increased funding for university education in Nigeria, arguing that better compensation is essential to motivate lecturers and keep the sector functioning effectively.
He revealed that, despite being a professor for 15 years, he earns just N420,000 per month, making it difficult for Nigerian lecturers to compete globally.
On September 25, 2024, ASUU gave the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to address several unresolved issues, including the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement and the release of withheld salaries from the 2022 industrial strike.
In 2022, academic and non-academic unions across Nigeria embarked on an eight-month strike to demand better working conditions. The previous administration, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, responded with a ‘no work, no pay’ policy. However, in October 2023, President Bola Tinubu authorised the payment of four out of the eight months of withheld salaries.
ASUU members were paid four months of the withheld salaries while members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) were not paid at all.
The two non-academic unions were on strike earlier in March while Education Minister Tahir Mamman said the government would consider half-pay for them.
Osodeke said ASUU members must be fully paid for the entire period of the industrial action in 2022. He submitted that the Tinubu administration has not done lecturers any favours by clearing four of their about eight months’ withheld salaries.
