The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has rejected the Federal Government’s offer to increase lecturers’ and professors’ salaries by 23.5% and 35% respectively.
The union is demanding a salary increase by more than 100%.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, made this known on Tuesday on the sideline of a meeting between the Federal Government, Vice Chancellors and Pro-Chancellors of public universities in Abuja.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Adamu said the government had offered the union a 23.5 percent salary increase “for all category of the workforce in Federal Universities, except for the professorial cadre which will enjoy a 35% upward review.”
Adamu said the government had also promised that a sum of N150 billion “shall be provided for in the 2023 Budget as funds for the revitalization of Federal Universities, to be disbursed to the Institutions in the First Quarter of the year.”
Also, the government pledged a sum of N50 billion that would be provided “for in the 2023 Budget for the payment of outstanding areas of earned academic allowances, to be paid in the First Quarter of the year.”
The union is however demanding for an outright one hundred percent increase.
Meanwhile, the Minister said the issue of ‘no work, no pay’ remains a major obstacle in the negotiations.