The Educational Workers Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria Chapter, has decried the poor wage construction of its members, revealing that assistant lecturers earn as little as N64,400 month-to-month, a determine the union says is decrease than the allowance paid to Nationwide Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The union made this recognized on Thursday, June 19, throughout an interview with the Information Company of Nigeria (NAN), amid an ongoing warning strike which started on June 16 and has halted educational actions throughout the establishment’s campuses in Zaria, Kaduna State.
The one-week warning strike is being noticed by all joint workers unions and is centred on the non-implementation of the Nationwide Polytechnic and Faculties of Schooling Wage Construction and the failure to implement the 65-year retirement age for non-teaching workers.
Chairman of the union, Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, who additionally leads the Joint Motion Committee of the establishment’s workers unions, mentioned the present pay construction has triggered a wave of mind drain throughout the establishment.
He disclosed that an assistant lecturer at Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic presently earns a web pay of N64,400, which is way under the allowance of an NYSC member.
Suleiman cited a case the place a lecturer who was sponsored by the polytechnic for each grasp’s and PhD levels returned solely to resign as a result of poor working circumstances.
Nevertheless, having signed a bond with the establishment, the lecturer was compelled to repay over N21 million to the varsity.
He described the scenario as a foul omen for the schooling sector and warned that if not addressed, the establishment dangers dropping its remaining educational workforce.
This, amongst different causes, made the establishments to expertise drastic brain-drain and lots of lecturers are on the verge of leaving the establishment. He additionally added that the establishment has misplaced a number of lecturers to higher pay packages elsewhere.
“We lose cohorts of lecturers to Federal College of Transportation Daura, Katsina State; Federal Polytechnic Gombe, and Kaduna State College (KASU,) amongst different establishments.
“We’ve got an occasion the place a lecturer was sponsored to accumulate masters and Ph.D by the establishment. Upon his return, he discovered the scenario insufferable and determined to go away,” he mentioned.
Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, Chairman of the Senior Workers Affiliation of Nigerian Polytechnic (SSANIP), NUBA department, mentioned the union has been pushing for improved wage buildings since 2009, to no avail.
“We had a sequence of agreements with the state authorities on June 11, 2010, and June 19, 2014, over the matter, and nothing was carried out in addition to simply signing the settlement and complaints of paucity of funds.”
He added that on Dec. 17, 2024, Governor Uba Sani assured us that the 2024 Polytechnic and Faculty of Schooling Wage Construction could be carried out within the first quarter of 2025.
“Regrettably, we’re in the long run of the second quarter of the yr and no concrete steps have been taken to meet this promise,” he mentioned.
In accordance with him, the state authorities has typically cited low Internally Generated Income (IGR) as the rationale for delays. Nevertheless, the latest recruitment of 500 new workers suggests the {financial} capability to satisfy the unions’ calls for exists.
