The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, has staged a peaceful protest lamenting the failure of the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to review the condition of works for their members.
The branch particularly mentioned that 325 of their senior lectures promoted to the professorial level have not received their promotion arrears for 30 to 40 months.
The branch in a press briefing that preceded the peaceful demonstration within the campus, Tuesday afternoon, also called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the FG to do the needful to avoid another round of crisis in the universities.
The Chairman of ASUU, UNIPORT, Comrade Uzoma Darlington Chima, who addressed the press in a conference attended by lecturers of the institution said the call was to avert another impending strike action by ASUU,
Chima, who read from a press statement he jointly signed with Secretary of the Union, Comrade Salem Ejeba, after a meeting with students, parents and some opinion leaders, cried that the rot in the universities have continued unabated, adding that 325 senior lecturers were being owed 20 to 40 promotion arrears.
He said: “The federal government has refused to pay promotion arrears to 325 lecturers in this institution. These people are between the professorial level. They were promoted and are still being owed between 30 to 40 months arrears.”
He recalled that the last strike action embarked upon by ASUU lasted for 18 months because of FG’s insensitivity to the welfare of lecturers and development of university education, regretting that rather than tackle the issues raised by ASUU that the FG only resorted to the use of starvation against its members.
Chima noted that the government has paid only lip service to all the challenges confronting university education in the country, which he said led to shutting down of activities in the universities in recent times, adding that President Tinubu has done nothing to address the issues despite his promise that there would not be ASUU strike during his administration.
He said: “Rather than sincerely address and find a lasting solution to the above issues which impinge negatively on industrial harmony, quality education and the smooth-running of our public universities, the Federal Government resorted to the use of starvation by withholding the salaries of our members for over seven (7) months and coercion through the National Industrial Court and the Appeal Court.
“It is sad to note that over twenty (20) months after the suspension of the last strike, the federal Government has only paid lip-service towards addressing those core issues that led to the strike ab initio and others that emanated from the strike.
“The need for better remuneration for our members cannot be overemphasised. It may sound incredible to note that our conditions of service have not been reviewed since the past 15 years despite the galloping inflation and the untold hardship that successive governments have caused the critical mass of the Nigerian citizenry.”
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