From: Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Members of the Academic Staff Union of the University of Benin (ASUU), University of Benin (UNIBEN), have threatened to embark on industrial action over the non-payment of full salary for the month of February.
The Union had, at the end of its last Congress, issued a one-week ultimatum to management of the institution in which it demanded for full payment of members’ February salaries, the payment of outstanding allowances as well as the redress of the issue of over taxation which the Union alleged had made its members the lowest paid among Universities in the country.
The ultimatum was said to have expired last Friday without the university management reaching any agreement with the ASUU.
It was learnt that the inability of the University to pay salaries regularly to its workers was caused partly by alleged recent over-employment of staff without recourse to due process by management of the institution.
For instance, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Osayuki Oshodin, was said to have inherited a staff strength of about 2,500, but the figure rose to 6,800 by the end of his tenure, while additional staff said to have been recruited by the new management under Prof. Faraday Oruwense, further increased the staff strength to about 8,000, thus making the University of Benin as the highest with personnel cost in Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC)’s records.
It was further gathered that though the Federal Government had released money for the payment of February staff salaries since February 20, the amount could only pay 70 percent of the staff.
The management of the University had introduced new charges, including tasking under-graduates, Masters Degree and PHD students N4,000, N60,000 and N90,000, respectively, as fees for project defence, all in a bid to shore up its Internally Generted Revenue (IGR) to bridge the gap.
“The reality in UNIBEN is like aberration. The ratio of staff is 65 for non-academic to 35 for academic staff. Many of the staff are duplicated for doing nothing, no schedule of duty for them.
“The place is full. Some of the staff don’t even come to school. The high level of indiscipline caused the the Registrar of the University to have a meeting with units Heads at the Senate Chambers of the University last Friday in a bid to check the situation”, a source at the institution told Daily Sun.
But the University, in a circular issued to staff by its Registrar, O.A Oshodin (Mrs.), dated March 10, 2017, denied that overstaffing was responsible for its inability to pay salaries. It attributed the problem to shortfalls in release of funds from the Federal Government.
”You are no doubt aware that the University of Benin has been getting shortfalls in terms of releases of money for paying staff salaries since January 2017. The shortfall experienced at the end of January 2017 necessitated adopting ‘first come, first pay’ method in the payment of January 2017 salaries after Management meeting with the Unions. At the end 343 members were not paid salaries for January 2017.
“Again for February 2017, there was a shortfall of N177 million in the payment of salaries. The four (4) unions met with Management and three agreed, except ASUU, that 19.5 percent reduction in salaries be effected to accommodate all staff, otherwise 1,006 members of staff would not have been paid their February 2017 salaries”, the circular said.
The circular, while attributing the inability of Management to pay January salaries to shortfall of funds from the Federal Government, explained that “it is therefore not true as being peddled round that it is as a result of the fact that the Vice Chancellor over employed staff”, stressing that nobody was employed since October 2015 and that Management had been paying salaries in full since then untill January 2017.
The University management assured staff that any percentage of their salary not paid now would be refunded to them in due course.
When contacted, the Assistant Secretary-General of ASUU, UNIBEN chapter, Dr. Anthony Asekhaumo, said “wWe worked in full in February, we deserve full pay”, adding ”if things stay the way they are, we would have no option than to embark on work-to rule”.
In a swift reaction, the university public relations officer, Mr. Michael Osasuyi said every activity in the institution is going on smoothly. And that Engr. Prof. Osasere Orumwense led administration is concerned about the welfare of staff.
He said the management has a working understanding with ASUU and there is no strike tomorrow 13 March as exams are ongoing.
Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the leadership of ASUU was holding a meeting to map out strategies to achieve their demands.