ASUU Rejects Withholding of Salaries and Imposition of IPPIS, Awards Scholarships

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike branch, has declared its continued resistance against the withholding of their eight months’ salary by the federal government. The announcement was made by the Chairperson of the union, Comrade Louis Omenyi, during a Special Congress at the Needs Assessment Auditorium of the institution.

In addition to the salary issue, the union is also protesting against the non-payment of their Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), the inconclusiveness of the Professor Nimi Briggs-led Re-negotiation Agreement, the illegal imposition of IPPIS on the Nigerian University System, the imposition of the so-called Core Curriculum Academic Minimum Standards (CCMAS), and any other anti-welfarist actions against its members.

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 the union also disbursed the sum of N500,000 as a one-off scholarship to three indigent students of the institution. The scholarships were awarded by the president of the Union, Comrade Emmanuel Osodeke, on 12th November, 2023, to mark the ASUU Heroes Day. Two of the scholarships were awarded by the national secretariat, while the AE-FUNAI branch awarded the remaining one.

Comrade Omenyi described the gesture as a “practical demonstration of the Union’s rejection of the World Bank-inspired policy on commercialisation of education,” and a fulfilment of their social corporate responsibility. He vowed that they will continue in this direction until they rescue the educational system and the country from “the stranglehold of the ruinous imperialist, capitalist and heartless neo-colonialists and their wicked agents in Nigeria.”

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The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Sunday Elom, commended ASUU for the gesture towards the indigent students in the university. He encouraged other unions and organisations to support indigent students in a similar manner. Prof Elom, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Professor Abel Ezeoha, assured that the university would continue to provide a favourable level playing ground for students.

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The recipients of the scholarships were Ezeakolam, Solomon Chidiebube (Department of Economics and Developmental Studies), Okorie, Akunna Bridget (Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture), and Alozie, Rosemary Olanma (Department of Philosophy and Religion).