As the union maintains its strike, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, or ASUP, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria Chapter, has expressed concern over the claimed low pay received by lecturers.
The union said that lecturers’ pay was lower than that of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, raising worries about the welfare of educators.
This was said by the union’s chairman, Malam Usman-Shehu Suleiman, in a Thursday interview with Zaria news reporters.
Academic activities at the institution’s two campuses were suspended on June 16 due to a one-week warning strike by the joint staff unions.
Among other things, the National Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Salary Structure’s non-implementation and the 65-year-old retirement age for non-teaching employees were the main causes of the walkout.
According to Suleiman, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Action Committee of the institution’s staff unions, an assistant lecturer’s net wage was N64,400, which is significantly less than what NYSC members receive each month.
“This, among other reasons, caused the institution to experience drastic brain-drain and many lecturers are on the verge of leaving the institution.
“We lose cohorts of lecturers to Federal University of Transportation Daura, Katsina State; Federal Polytechnic Gombe and Kaduna State University, KASU, among other institutions.
“We have an instance where a lecturer was sponsored to acquire masters and Ph.D by the institution upon his return; he found the situation unbearable and decided to leave,” he said.
However, the chairman added that the lecturers had signed a bond with the institution, therefore, they had to repay NUBA Polytechnic over N21 million.
He characterized the state of affairs as “bad omen” for the field of education.
The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic, SSANIP, NUBA Polytechnic branch Chairman, Abubakar Aliyu-Shika, also stated that the union had been pushing for pay increases since 2009, or “nearly 16 years ago.”
“On June 11, 2010, and June 19, 2014, we reached a number of agreements with the state government regarding the issue, but nothing was done other than sign the agreement and complain about the lack of funding.”
According to him, Goveenir Uba Sani promised the joint union leadership on December 17, 2024, that the Polytechnic and College of Education Salary Structure (2024) will be put into effect by the first quarter of 2025.
“Unfortunately, as the second quarter of the year draws to a close, no tangible actions have been taken to keep this commitment,” he stated.
Aliyu-Shika pointed out that the administration will completely adopt the new compensation structure after Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) increased, citing a lack of funding in the state as one of the justifications.
“Now, the government has recruited 500 new staff; it means the financial situation has improved, hence our demands,” he continued, adding that the polytechnic had just over 900 employees overall.
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