By Abasi Ita, Calabar
The Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU has asked Nigerians to hold the federal government responsible for the high death toll and mass exodus of academic staff rattling the Union in the last two decades
ASUU Calabar Zone made the call while briefing journalists at the Eskor Toyo Unical Secretariat of the body on the state of affairs of public universities across the country.
A press statement read ASUU Calabar Zonal Coordinator Comrade Happiness Uduk noted with dismay that the” perennial insensitivity demonstrated by successive federal administrations has led to unwarranted deaths of seasoned academics and the massive exodus of our best brains to the Jepa Syndrome”
Comrade Uduk decried the deplorable working conditions coupled, with a poor salary package for lecturers whereby professors in public universities earn less than N400 .000 which she noted as the lowest in the world, and called for collective action by concerned Nigerians to prevail on the federal government to address the myriad of challenges crippling the education sector in Nigeria.
The ASSU chieftain lamented that the poor remuneration has resulted in their” inability to maximally discharge our responsibilities first to our families due to poor pay, and to our students as a result of insufficient and overstretched teaching and learning facilities”
ASUU attributed the decay in the sector to continuous insufficient budgetary allocation in the past eight years, systematic starvation of the institutions as well as uncultured, brash, and harsh treatment meted out to its members by successive stifling administrations as typified by General Mohammadu Buhari’s Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige who personalized his hatred for the union”
The Calabar Zone Chapter of ASUU implored President Bola Tinubu to change the narrative about Govt/ASUU relationship by honouring the previous agreement, especially in 2009 for the mutual interest given the lingering patience and understanding exhibited by the Union.
ASUU Calabar Zone comprises state and federal universities in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Ebonyi states