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- Accuses FG of divide and rule game
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has protested the recent decision of the Federal Government to exclude some categories of workers including its members in the recent 40 per cent pay rise for workers.
COEASU registered its discontent with the federal government’s decision, describing it as a deliberate ploy to cause unnecessary bickering among workers, and possibly weaken the Nigerian labour movement through divide and rule policy.
COEASU President Dr Smart Odunayo Olugbeko, in a statement on Wednesday, reminded the government that his colleagues have been at the forefront of championing the campaign for salary review for several years.
He said: “It’s disheartening to note that lecturers and other workers in Colleges of Education had their last increase in salary in 2010 (13 years ago). The implication is that what the lecturers were earning in 2010 is the same amount they still earn in 2023.”
He said that various efforts have been made by the Union to make government renegotiate the 2010 agreement that heralded the current salary structure for lecturers in Colleges of Education, even though the agreement should have been renegotiated after three years.
He added: “The Federal government eventually acceded to the demand of the Union by inaugurating the FGN/COEASU Renegotiation team in 2022 under the leadership of Prof. Kabiru Ishyaku, a former Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).
“The Union has reached an understanding with the Federal Government team on virtually all issues raised for renegotiation except salary increase which the government team claimed was still awaiting the response of the government.
“It’s unfortunate that government at various levels in Nigeria are treating the issue of salary increase as a privilege they give to workers at their whims and caprices.”
He reiterated the fact that a salary increase is not a privilege or favour from the government but a worker’s right, especially when such a salary structure is a product of an agreement that has an expiry time.
He insisted that salary increment for academic staff in tertiary institutions is not a donation from the government, but a product of negotiation between the government and the unions because of the peculiarity of the system in terms of job specifications that attract different allowances for different cadres of workers.
The Union, therefore, asked the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, return to the renegotiation table to conclude the renegotiation which includes salary increases for academic staff in Colleges of Education.
