We won’t pay staff schools workers’ salaries again – FG
President, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Samson Ugwoke
The
Federal Government has formally hands off the payment of salaries of
teaching and non-academic workers of staff schools in institutions
across the country.
The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages
Commission specifically said government should not be responsible for
the payment of their salaries because of its overbearing effect on the
budget.
Part of the mandate of the commission
includes monitoring the wage sector and advising the Federal Government
on the fixing and regulation of workers’ salaries and other remuneration
as well as the control of personnel costs.
The
announcement by the chairman of NSIWC, Chief Richard Egbule, during a
press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja came on the heels of threat by the
Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities to embark on strike if
the Federal Government refused to fund the schools which were said to
have been established by the institutions.
“I would like to appeal to staff unions
not to distract the new government with unnecessary demands. The
government has stopped payment of salaries of members of staff in the
primary and secondary schools in these tertiary institutions and the
decision is final,” he said.
He recalled that in an agreement signed
between the Federal Government and SSANU in November 2009, it was clear
that universities should bear the full capital and costs of both staff
primary and secondary schools, while parents of pupils and students
should bear the recurrent costs.
Egbule said that in the course of its
inspection, the commission observed a trend in which government-owned
institutions charge the funding of staff schools established by them to
government treasury.
This, he said, contributed to the overbloating of the recurrent cost in government budget.
To correct the situation, the commission
said a study it carried out in 2013 to ascertain the number of staff
schools in the country revealed many disturbing trends.
“Fourty-eight did not have staff
schools, 21 funded their staff schools from their internally generated
revenue, while 51 funded theirs from federal treasury budget sources by
hiding the staff lists of such schools as part of the institution’s
authentic members of staff.
“In some instances, the staff salary of
such schools was placed on the salary structure meant for tertiary
educational institutions, which is higher in quantum than the
Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure which has been costing the
Federal Government about N4bn per annum,” Egbule stated.
The commission added that based on its
findings, it issued a circular with reference number SWC/S/04S.446/T2/85
dated August 27, 2014” in which it stated that the policy was
applicable to all staff schools meant for the children of the personnel
of such institutions and other members of the public regardless of the
nomenclature used.
The National President of SSANU, Samson
Ugwoke, told had journalists in Abuja that the government’s decision
would contravene an earlier agreement reached between government and
relevant associations in 2009. The agreement, he said, was that
government would continue with the funding of recurrent and capital
expenditures of universities’ staff schools.
“An institution (the National
Universities Commission), that is supposed to advise the government
rightly is not doing so. We are calling on the government to do the
needful and what is right. This is the last warning and you will not
hear from us again until we take action because strike is imminent,” he
threatened.
According to him, the schools were
established by statues and therefore made provision for employment of
relevant workers by the universities’ council.
Ugwoke had said government should not
resort to distribution of directives through circulars and throw
thousands of employees into the labour market.
He argued that the law should be changed before such a directive could be implemented.
