BSUM STRIKE: See What the Council is Demanding

The public may recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Benue State University (BSU) chapter (ASUU-BSU) embarked on a total and indefinite strike since 27th April, 2017. Contrary to good and standard practice, this action (which is still on-going) was without any official notice to the University.

2) It was five days after the action (2nd May, 2017) that ASUU-BSU communicated a congress resolution on the strike citing the following reasons for their action:
i. Heavy Tax Burden;

ii. Contributory Pension Scheme;

iii. National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS);

iv. Amendment of Benue State University Establishment Law;

v. Accumulated Leave for Academic Staff;

vi. Payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA); and

vii. Payment of Salaries.

3) The non-teaching staff unions comprising Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) on the other hand, proceeded on a total and indefinite strike action on the 2nd May, 2007 after a warning strike. Their grievance was the inability of the Management to pay the arrears of their Earned Allowances (EA).

4) The public may wish to know that some of these grievances are borne out of the 2009 Agreement entered into by the various university unions with the Federal Government of Nigeria. While the rest of the issues (i - v & vii above) raised by the unions are easy to understand and have indeed been sorted out to the satisfaction of the unions, the issue of Earned Allowances (EA) has remained a sore point; even in Federal Universities.

5) The EAA/EA as captured in the ASUU-FGN 2009 Agreement had July 2009 as the effective date of implementation. Peculiar to Public Universities, it is based on the following:

i. Postgraduate supervision allowance;
ii. Teaching practice/industrial supervision allowance;
iii. Honoraria for internal/external examinations (calculated per postgraduate student);
iv. Honoraria for moderation of undergraduate/postgraduate examinations;
v. Postgraduate study grant per session up to 2 years for masters degree and 4 years for PhD;
vi. External assessment of Readers or Professors per assessment;
vii. Call duty/clinical duty/clinic hazard allowance; and
viii. Excess work load allowance which is calculated taking into account the staff-to-student ratio beyond a set threshold. This considers the burden imposed particularly on staff in training (academic staff yet to acquire the PhD).

6) The public may wish to note that many State Governments expressed reservations and fears about the burden of the Earned Allowances. These fears and reservations are not misplaced since the effective implementation of the EAA/EA has become a major bone of contention in both the Federal and State Universities.

7) The effective implementation of the EAA/EA has been exacerbated by the fact that in many public universities including BSU, contrary to good practice it is the unions especially ASUU that unilaterally developed the template and calculated their entitlements under the Agreement.

8) It is on record that the FGN that signed this Agreement with ASUU has only been able to offset 43% of the accumulated arrears of EAA/EA from July 2009 to 2013. FGN is still owing 57% of the initial bulk in addition to 100% from 2013 to date in all Federal Universities.

9) The Samuel Ortom administration upon inception on 29th May, 2015 took a bold step to halt the accumulation of EAA/EA at BSU. The government commenced the payment of EAA/EA from July 2015 to date, two months after its inauguration. Under this arrangement, the University pays monthly amounts of N85,000.00 to Professors/Readers, N65,000.00 to Senior Lecturers and N45,000.00 to Lecturers I down to (Graduate Assistants?). This is irrespective of what each person may actually be entitled to get under the Agreement as outlined in (5) above and shows the extent to which the Samuel Ortom administration is prepared to bend over backwards to support uninterrupted academic activities at the University.

10) The University also pays monthly amounts of N50,000.00 to non-teaching staff on CONTISS 13 and above while those below CONTISS 13 receive N20,000.00 monthly. This again is irrespective of the entitlement of each non-teaching staff under the Agreement.

11) Table 1 below captures the academic staff strength of BSU by rank/category as well as the amounts paid for EAA so far (23 months) and outstanding balance of 63 months. As the table shows, the University expends on a single allowance (EAA/EA), a monthly sum of fifty-six (56) million Naira. Since July 2015 when the Samuel Ortom administration decided to halt the accumulation of EAA/EA at BSU, the State Government has paid a total of 1.4 billion Naira. Thus, for the outstanding arrears of 62 months for Professors/Readers, 63 months for Senior Lecturers, 61 months for Lecturers 1 and below, 63 months for the non-teaching staff on CONTISS 13 and above and 67 months for those on CONTISS 1 - 12; a total of 3.6 billion Naira is outstanding and yet to be paid.

Table 1: Staff strength and cost burden of earned allowances at BSU excluding BSU College of Health Sciences.

S/N Rank/category Size Monthly unit cost Monthly burden Expended (July 2015 – May 2017) Outstanding
1 Professor/Reader 109 85,000.00 9,265,000.00 213,095,000.00 574,430,000.00

2 Senior Lecturer 89 65,000.00 5,785,000.00 133,055,000.00 364,455,000.00
3 Lecturer 1& below 325 45,000.00 14,625,000.00 336,375,000.00 892,125,000.00
4 Snr. Non-teaching staff (13 & above) 43 50,000.00 2,150,000.00 49,450,000.00 135,450,000.00
5 Other Non-teaching staff 307 20,000.00 6,140,000.00 141,220,000.00 411,380,000.00
6 Tech. college staff, Snr. (13 & above) 48 50,000.00 2,400,000.00 55,200,000.00 160,800,000.00
7 Other technical college staff 17 20,000.00 340,000.00 7,820,000.00 22,780,000.00
8 Tech. college staff, Junior 6 20,000.00 120,000.00 2,760,000.00 8,040,000.00
9 NAATS (12 & Above) 8 56,666.67 453,333.36 10,426,667.30 30,373,335.10
10 NAATS others 33 48,666.67 1,606,000.11 36,938,002.30 107,602,007.00
11 Junior staff 684 20,000.00 13,680,000.00 314,640,000.00 916,560,000.00
Total burden 56,564,333.50 1,300,980,000.00 3,623,995,000.00

12) When the Unions started their industrial action, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council met with the leadership of unions and appealed to them to suspend the strike action to pave way for a meaningful discourse towards amicable resolution. The Pro-Chancellor on behalf of Council wrote the Visitor on 5th May, 2017 informing him of the actions of the Unions and suggested the way forward on each of the submitted grievances.

13) However, in a rather curious move, ASUU-BSU following a congress meeting on 9th May, 2017 rejected the entreaties of the Pro-Chancellor arguing that there was no substance in his appeal meriting their consideration. The other Unions followed suit.

14) Concerned that the action of the Unions was inimical to BSU, the State Government on 10th May, 2017 constituted a team headed by the SSG (Professor Anthony Ijohor, SAN) to negotiate with unions and ensure an amicable resolution of the crisis. The government team met up to four times with the unions (especially ASUU-BSU) at which the government agreed to the following in respect of the grievances of the unions:

i. On Heavy Tax Burden: Government reactivated the committee on PAYE headed by Hon. Commissioner for Finance (Mr. David Olofu), with members drawn from ASUU-BSU, BIRS and Management of the University. While the report of the committee is being awaited, government agreed to suspend the extant PAYE tax regime in favour of a 5% tax on basic salary tax pending the outcome of the Committee’s report. This has already taken effect from the month of April 2017 salaries and the Unions are satisfied with it.

ii. On Contributory Pension Scheme: Government has forwarded an Executive Bill on this to the Benue State House of Assembly. To cushion the effect of non payment of pension arrears to retirees, government directed that three months pension arrears be paid to retirees. This has been done and the Unions are satisfied with Government’s action. This is in addition to efforts by Benue State Government to normalize payment of pensions in the State.

iii. On National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS): Government has also forwarded an Executive Bill to the House of Assembly on the (NHIS). The Unions are also satisfied with this. To ensure that these bills are given priority attention by the House of Assembly, Government has set up a Committee to work with ASUU-BSU and the other Unions to ensure speedy passage of the two bills within a four months’ time frame.

iv. On Amendment of the Benue State University Establishment Law: The Governing Council of the University is at the verge of completing work on the draft Law. The Chairman of ASUU (Professor U.D. Ikoni) who represents Congregation on Council is a member of the Council Committee working on this draft. Council has already considered the draft law in their meeting of 29th June, 2017. This will be forwarded to the Benue State Government for onward transmission to the State House of Assembly for the proper processes and action. The Unions are aware of this and have also accepted the action.

v. On Accumulated Leave for Academic Staff: Government noted that this issue has been resolved by Management and has directed that no further leave should be accumulated by staff of the University. The Senate has also directed all Heads of Department to prepare annual leave rosters and ensure that staff enjoy their leave.

vi. On Payment of Earned Allowances: Government has stopped the accumulation of the EAA/EA since July 2015 and has paid a total sum of N1,300,980,000.00 from July 2015 to May 2017 as EAA/EA to the BSU. In view of the precarious finances of the State, Government has directed that from May 2017 salaries for each month will be accompanied by offsetting one (1) month of arrears of EAA/EA. Government also maintains its resolve that it will still direct the University to step up the number of months to be paid anytime funds are available. This is the only area of disagreement with the unions. Whereas the non-teaching Unions are asking for every single kobo of the arrears of their earned allowances (EA) before going back to work, ASUU-BSU is demanding to be paid the entire arrears, divided into six (6) equal installments of that; at least one tranche (one tranche covers arrears of eleven months) of the six installments be paid in full before they will call off the strike.

vii. On Payment of Salaries: Government has restated its commitment to continue to place the Benue State University on first line charge and that salaries of staff would always be paid promptly as soon as Federal Allocations are received. So far, salaries at the University are up to date.

15) The fourth Benue State Stakeholders Meeting held on 20th May, 2017 upheld a motion appealing to ASUU-BSU and the other unions to call off the strike for the sake of Benue children and the future of our state. The Unions have again ignored this intervention.

16) The public is again invited to note that the current administration of Samuel Ortom in recognition of the importance of the BSU to the State had placed the University on first line charge in payment of salaries. This is even as the state is struggling to pay salaries of other categories of workers outside the BSU.

17) The BSU is our collective heritage and a viable institution of learning in the North-Central Zone of the country. It belongs to us and we must make every sacrifice to ensure its survival. If the strike continues, there is a possibility of the University loosing an academic session. This will result into other unintended consequences such as admission losses and non-mobilisation of our final year students for the next batch of NYSC; which will pose a heavy burden and loss to both our dear students and their parents.

18) The public should also note that even Federal Universities on behalf of whom the FGN entered into the 2009 Agreement with ASUU have not yet implemented the EAA/EA component of the Agreement. In fact, no Nigerian public University has done as well as BSU on the matter of EAA/EA. On our part, we would continue to strive to sustain the agreements reached on the six issues raised by the Unions. It is not in the interest of the University to owe arrears of whatever allowance, salaries or pension to deserving staff.

19) The unions are blackmailing government and are playing dirty politics with the University; nonetheless, Government has closed its eyes and gone ahead to pay salaries to the University even for the period of the strike.

20) Council avails itself this opportunity to express its profound appreciation to the Executive Governor of Benue State, Chief Samuel Ortom, the Benue State Executive Council, the State House of Assembly, Government Negotiating Team, Royal Fathers and all stakeholders for their support towards resolving the current strike.

21) Equally, Council also uses this opportunity to sympathize with our students, parents and guardians and assure them of our best efforts towards a speedy resolution of the crisis.

THE APPEAL

The BSU Governing Council therefore appeals to all stakeholders especially the people of the State to prevail on the Unions to give peace a chance and return to work. Council is also appealing to all striking Unions to consider the interest of the state in general but particularly that of the students and their parents and suspend the strike. We appeal to the staff to consider most especially the timing of the strike as Benue State and indeed the entire country groans under the present economic circumstances that have made it extremely difficult to pay even normal salaries. The State University is our collective legacy.

Mrs. Catherine Terlumun Bur
Acting Registrar and Secretary to Council

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