On Monday, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union commended President Bola Tinubu for heeding the "voice of reasoning" and suspending the 40% deduction from internally generated revenues of Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions. In a statement released in Abuja, the union criticized the policy as "backward" and pledged to resist any attempt to reintroduce it. Tinubu, through the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, announced the suspension at the University of Ibadan last Friday, following widespread criticism from academic unions like COEAU, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, among others.

In the statement, COEASU expressed immense satisfaction with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's decision to suspend the policy requiring tertiary institutions, including colleges of education, to remit 40% of a non-existent Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the federal treasury.

"While fully aware that our resolute opposition would not allow the policy to persist, we recognize and appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's praiseworthy qualities of good judgment, receptiveness, democratic values, and responsible leadership. His decision to suspend the policy prevented unnecessary tension between labor and the government. We commend the President for his understanding and cooperative approach.

This action by President Tinubu suggests to us that our union has discovered a government aligned with our disposition, emphasizing alternative dispute resolution through constructive engagement, social dialogue, and proactive bargaining, marked by mutual respect and openness to superior reasoning."

Nevertheless, we encourage President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take a further step by leveraging this positive attitude to promptly tackle funding challenges in the College of Education system and other levels of the tertiary education sector as a whole.

"We urge Mr. President to consistently address labor concerns through proactive social dialogue and collective bargaining. This approach will contribute to maintaining industrial harmony and an undisrupted academic calendar in our institutions.

We expect that Mr. President will extend these commendable principles to resolve other persistent issues affecting the College of Education system that may lead to industrial disputes.

For instance, the centralization of payroll administration through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System undermines the statutory functions of governing councils and compromises the institutional integrity of the tertiary education sector at large, including the College of Education system."

"It exposes the payroll to arbitrary manipulations and various forms of fraud beyond the oversight of our institutions' management.

This system has diminished the autonomy of provosts and governing councils in making employment decisions, as the Head of Service office now dictates who to hire and when. The Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) goes against international best practices in managing tertiary institutions and disregards the unique characteristics of the College of Education system."