The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has rejected a 23.5 percent salary increase “for all category of the workforce in Federal Universities, except for the professorial cadre which will enjoy a 35% upward review,” offered by the Federal Government.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu disclosed this on Tuesday while outlining the Government’s efforts to resolve the lingering strike embarked upon by ASUU.
The Minister, who spoke at a press conference in Abuja, said the government had also promised that a sum of N150 billion “shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget as funds for the revitalization of Federal Universities, to be disbursed to the Institutions in the First Quarter of the year.”
Also, the government pledged a sum of N50 billion that would be provided “for in the 2023 Budget for the payment of outstanding areas of earned academic allowances, to be paid in the First Quarter of the year.”
However, ASUU and three other university unions who had been on strike, rejected the offer, Minister Adamu said, describing it “as inadequate to meet their respective demands needed to tackle the challenges confronting the university system.”
According to an ASUU source, the union is seeking over a 100 percent increase in salaries.
While other unions – NASU, SSANU and NAAT – have subsequently suspended their industrial action after further negotiations with the government, ASUU has instead extended its strike indefinitely.
“We have done the best that we can in the circumstance,” the Minister said.