OOU Lecturers Protest Delay in Salary, Absence in Classes Article | March 18, 2014 - 12:41am | By MuSodiq Adekunle Lecturers at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State on Monday, protested against delay in their salaries by not going for lectures. When contacted, the Chiarman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, OOU branch, Dr. Agboola Ayodeji confirmed that the lecturers shunned classes, but said it was not a strike action. According to him, the delay in salary had been occurring for about three years. Apart from persistence delay in the lecturers salary, the ASUU chiarman identified that the new point of sales; non-release of fund for accreditation; arbitrary Taxation and outstanding entitlements as factors responsible for their action. He said, In the last three years, salaries have been irregular. For example, it took several letters written by the Union since September, 2011 reminding the University authority on delays in the payment of salaries could be paid. In January 2013, we also expressed our grievances on this same issue. This unfortunate trend has persisted, thus making our members irresponsible and unable to meet their socio-personal and financial obligations. It is pathetic that our children are being sent out of schools for non-payment of school fees. It is embarrassing that our wards at University-run institutions like OOU staff school and OOU international school are sent home for non-payment of fees. This has no doubt embarrassed and ridiculed our members some of whom cannot even pay their rents and meet other basic needs. This situation, the Union feels, is capable of exposing our members to the temptation of unethical practices. It is ironic that the University currently waging war against such unethical practices could be failing in discharging its primary responsibility of paying the salaries of its workers, knowing fully well that this is the main source of income they depend on. This situation becomes more worrisome given the frequent assertion of the State Government that it pays all workers in its employ before the end of every month. One then wonders if we are not part of the State work force or could it be that there are cliques within government circle frustrating the effort of the government. On Point of Sales and arbitary taxation, he said, While it is noted that tax is under the Federal laws and should not be subjected to state variations in terms of its application. The past three years have been characterized by arbitrary and astronomic tax policy which has further pauperized our members. For instance, a Senior Lecturer in OOU pays more tax than a Professor in Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). We find this situation unacceptable. We have had cause to write the Governor and made several visits to the State Internal Revenue Service all to no avail. The deductions failed to take cognizance of the Consolidated Peculiar University Academic Allowance (CONPUA) components of our salary structure which is meant for research, subscription to journals etc. The idea of Point of Sales (POS) is to ease collection of fees within the system. However, the last Visitation panel’s White Paper by the present State government condemned the mode of payments then (through Recordsoft, Bra Solution etc) as exploitative and was therefore discontinued. Four thousand naira (N4, 000) was the flat rate being collected on every school fees then. However, under the watch of the present Government, 5.5 percent charge is made on every transaction now made through the POS system. This means that the charges accruing to the operators are almost two times higher than what they used to be. For instance, a student in the Faculty of Arts paying a school fees of One Hundred and Twenty-Three Thousand (N123, 000:00) would be surcharged Six Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Five Naira (N6, 765:00) as against the former N4, 000:00 that was condemned. We feel that this extra charge should have remained in the University for the purpose of development since the payment system can help and be handled by the University itself without recourse to contractors and also bearing in mind the position of Government in the White Paper of the present Government’s Visitation which states inter alia: “Generally, the current financial position of the University is very precarious” (Recommendation 22). He also faulted government for not releasing fund for accreditation. Also, the National Universities Commission has written to the University indicating when all the programmes in the University will be re-assessed. Based on this information from the NUC, the University Administration came up with what would be required in terms of infrastructural upgrading and staff, which was submitted to the University Governing Council and the State Government. We were rightly informed that the Visitor has since approved less than 25% of the funds for the exercise but those in charge have failed to release the funds for the accreditation exerciseM. Our Union is therefore appealing to the state Governor to prevail on the appropriate organs of Government to release the funds for the accreditation forthwith, he added. dailytimes.ng/article/oou-lecturers-protest-delay-salary-absence-classes
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:51:19 +0000
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