The Federal Government has been urged by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Ondo State, chapter, to uphold the agreement struck with ASUU over the pay scale for university teachers.

The union said that its members' low productivity was caused by a variety of obstacles, including the fact that, while not being owed a wage, the country's current inflation rate meant that their pay was insufficient to meet their basic necessities.

This was said by Abraham Olasupo, the UNIMED ASUU chairman, in an interview with media during a demonstration on Wednesday in Ondo town.

Olasupo stated that the government has raised gasoline and power rates, and that these increases have to be reflected in professors' pay.



In addition to the inadequate pay scale that negatively impacted academic personnel, he bemoaned the fact that the workforce is not receiving their rightfully due academic allowance.

"Our salary structure has to do with the 2009 Federal Government of Nigeria and ASUU agreement," he stated. Regarding the pay, we are stating that our take-home pay is not bringing us home given the current state of the economy.

"There's a pretty easy explanation. When President Buhari's administration began in 2015, a professor's conversion salary was $3,800; today, that same professor makes less than $275. In Nigeria today, all goods and services are dollarized. Why therefore is it not possible for the government to provide us with pay equal to that of a professor?

That constitutes the core of our demands for renegotiation. The income of university employees has not increased since 2009; we continue to get the same pay despite the high cost of living and an inflation rate of between 14 and 20 percent as of last year. At present, the percentage exceeds 45%.

"We are calling on the government because we are parents and we need to take care of our families too. If someone is still earning what he was earning when the inflation rate was very low, then you know the salary can not go anywhere."

providing us money isn't the point; what are you providing us, and is it enough to take care of us? Does it really depict the state of our economy today? He continued, "The government has raised fuel prices and power tariffs, but they haven't felt it's appropriate to give workers the same treatment.

Olasupo pointed out that, despite the union's optimism for the current administration, it had purportedly refused to establish formal relations with them during its first year in office. She emphasized that, should this attitude persist, the union will be compelled to consider other options, such as going on strike.

"ASUU is always open to resolving issues amicably and was hopeful at the beginning that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would be favorably disposed of in addressing the pending issues," he continued. "This is especially true given Mr. President's stance and statements that'strikes would be a thing of the past in our system." Regretfully, during its one-year tenure in office, the same administration has declined to establish formal relations with us.

"In light of this, the union has decided to bring this issue back to the public eye so that Nigerians will be properly informed and will hold the government accountable for their insensitivity, recklessness, and lack of responsiveness to the issues pertaining to university education in the nation," the statement reads.