NASU’s protest over earned allowances baseless – Physiotherapists

Following the recent protest staged by the workers of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State and the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, over alleged disparity in earned allowances, a varsity don, Prof. Rufus Adedoyin, has said that such agitations are baseless.
Adedoyin, who is the President of the Association of Academic and Clinical Physiotherapists and Head of Medical Rehabilitation Department, College of Health Sciences, OAU, told our correspondent that before the government released the N23billion earned allowance to universities in the country, there had been negotiations in the past three years between it and the Academic Staff Union of Universities over the allowances.
He noted that, in past negotiations, it was what ASUU members submitted and what the government approved that was paid to them, adding that what was approved for ASUU by the government was different from that of SSANU and NASU.
“I think there is a difference in calculation of allowances for ASUU and NASU. So, there is bound to be a difference and disparity in earned allowances that will be paid to ASUU and SSANU members. So, there is no way it will be equal; the agitations are not justifiable,” he said.
As regards the money released, Adedoyin noted that it was for the staff as the earned allowances were different from the fund for the universities and research, saying, “This is the allowance university workers are entitled to and not for infrastructure or funding of the universities.”
The workers had claimed that the allowance sent from the Federal Government was not evenly distributed, protesting “injustice in the distribution.”
The Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, OAU, Ile-Ife branch, Mr. Ademola Oketunde, who gave reasons for the protest, said the Federal Government gave N23 billion to all the universities as their earned allowance, but condemned the percentage, which ASUU intends to give to the non-teaching staff of the institutions.
Oketunde noted that N168 million was given to ASUU, while N1.6billion was allocated to the other four unions in OAU. According to him, they should have allowed the school management to share the money themselves.
He listed the unions to include the Institute of Agricultural Research & Training, OAU, Ibadan; SSANU, NASU and NAAT.
The chairman claimed that while the other unions followed due process concerning the allocation, ASUU failed to do so, but went straight to Abuja without passing through the bursary department.
Similarly, the NASU Chairman, Mr. Wole Odewunmi, said that the distribution had been politicised.
Odewumi called on the Federal Government to intervene, as a matter of urgency, so as to maintain peaceful coexistence in the university community.