THE leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities has blasted the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu over comments credited to him that the sum of N25 billion has been approved by the Federal Government for university lecturers as Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).
ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, while reacting to Adamu’s comment on Wednesday night in Abuja, accused the government of breach of trust, saying the Minister was not sincere about the alleged approval of the fund.
He noted that the Union has been on the trail for the said amount since February and has been tossed from one Ministry and office to another with no result in sight.
He said the Federal Government should be blamed for any further disruption of the Nigerian university system, for failing to abide by the agreement it reached with the Union before the strike was suspended in February.
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Adamu had during his valedictory press briefing on Tuesday announced the approval of the sum of N25 billion as Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) for the lecturers.
He said it was important for ASUU leadership to clarify issues relating to the said N25 billion supposedly approved as part-payment for the outstanding arrears of the Earned Academic Allowance (EAA) within the context of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) signed between the federal government of Nigeria and ASUU on 7th February 2019.
He said it was unfortunate that members of the union have watched with dismay the failure of the government to live up to its words.
He said: “Following the signing of the MoA, the union expected, as agreed, that the N25 billion EAA part-payment would be paid between 25th February 2019 and 28th February 2019.
“As we speak today, there is no evidence that mainstreaming of EAA into the annual budget, beginning from this year, has been done. Indeed what has been going on is the tossing around of the agreement document between the offices of the Minister of Education and Finance.
“All our efforts to track the said N25 billion at the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation have proved abortive. This is not only unacceptable to us but disheartening and frustrating to our members across the country.
“It is frustrating because we have visited the Ministry of education at least three times and written letters to the Ministry since we signed the MoA in February 2019, all to no avail. This is a complete breach of trust on the part of the government.”
He said the union expect nothing less than the Immediate release of the N25 billion to their members who are entitled to such claims and the mainstreaming of EAA into the annual budget as agreed in the MoA.
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“Our union is, therefore, alarmed by the statement credited to the Hon. Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu that the said N25 billion fund for EAA has been approved.
“Our information is that only N20 billion has been approved and the government has not acceded to our demand that the approved sum be released to the deserving academic staff members.
“ASUU, therefore, restates its demand that the confirmed N20 billion be paid to those deserving the part-payment for EAA among our members without further delay,” he added.
He warned that members were losing patience and could be provoked to action.