Salary cuts killing our members, ASUU UNICAL cries out

ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Calabar zone, has decried the persistent cut in the monthly salaries of lecturers, saying it has led to the death of many of its members.

In a statement jointly signed by the coordinator of the zone, Professor Nsing Ogar; chairman of UNICAL chapter, Dr Tony Eyang; Dr Aniekan Brown of the University of Uyo chapter, and Dr Emmanuel Etta of the Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), the leaders of the zone said many of its members had died in the past one year owing to persistent shortfall in the payment of their salaries, which he attributed to the reduction in subvention sent to the universities by the Federal Government.

“The shortfall varies from institution to institution, and runs into hundreds of millions and tens of millions of naira for others. Consequently, fragments of salaries are being paid staff, some 80 per cent and others 90 per cent from December 2015 to January 2017.

“This anomaly has thrown university workers into unprecedented agony, and this has made minced meat of academics with large numbers of them dying prematurely,” it stated.

The ASUU leaders said the situation has led to the death of 12 lecturers in UNICAL and eight others at UNIUYO, and has dampened the morale of university workers.

They called on the Federal Government and the governing councils of universities to urgently address the situation before more havoc is wreaked on the academic system in the country.

According to the lecturers, the cut in salaries led them to embark on a warning strike in November last year, after 11 months of fruitless engagement with the Federal Government; this prompted The Presidency to approve the virement by the National Assembly to address the situation.

“Sadly, more than three months after the virement, the arrears of shortfall have remained unpaid for many universities, and the cuts in salaries have even deepened,” the lecturers said.