•Lecturers advised to discuss with presidential candidates
•Parents tackle govt over half pay for varsity teachers
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has appealed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to be patient over the half pay by the Federal Government.
He assured the lecturers, in a statement, that lasting solutions to their concerns were being sought, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari was treating their fresh protest.
Gbajabiamila rationalised that government’s no work, no pay policy was premised on preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.
His words: “When ASUU called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption. This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision.”
MEANWHILE, former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Lai Olurode, has cautioned ASUU against embarking on a fresh industrial action, stressing that such move would be lacking in merit, considering shortness of period to the next general elections.
In a statement, the don submitted: “My position is that ASUU should look beyond the current government for resolution of the impasse. We need to move forward. It should peep into the future, request social scientists among its members to randomly select a representative sample of potential electors from voter register, gauge its opinion on candidate likely to win the presidential election.”
ALSO, Association of Nigeria Universities Alumni (ANUA), yesterday, appealed to government to pay accrued salaries of ASUU members in the interest of peace and justice.
In a statement, the National President, Stephen Olawale Fasakin and Secretary, Mohammed Wada Sani, said the full payment would also motivate the union to cover grounds.
The statement reads: “ANUA has observed the turn of events in the Nigerian university education sector in the past few days, which saw the Federal Government paying members of ASUU half-salary.”
“On the one hand, as critical stakeholders and parents, we are appalled by this decision.”