The students who came out to support their lecturers displayed placards with inscriptions including “education is life; proper funding of university education is non-negotiable; lecturers too want an earthly reward for teaching all professions; stop establishing universities you cannot fund.
They marched from the Julius Berger Hall on the campus to the UNILAG gate and back to the ASUU-UNILAG Secretariat.
The protesting lecturers and students sang solidarity songs as they distributed handbills listing their nine demands, which included the conclusion of the renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU agreement; Agreement based on Nimi Briggs Committee’s draft Agreement of 2021; release of withheld three-and-half months salaries on account of the 2022 strike action; release of unpaid salaries of staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments owing to the application of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System; release of outstanding third-party deductions such as check-off dues and cooperative contributions; Funding for revitalisation of public universities (partly captured in 2023 Federal Government’s Budget).
Others are Earned Academic Allowances (partly captured in the 2023 Federal Government’s Budget); proliferation of universities by Federal and State Governments; implementation of the reports of visitation panels to universities, and University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (in place of IPPIS).
Chairman ASUU-UNILAG, Prof. Kayode Adebayo, explained that the protest was to sensitise the general public about the insensitivity and silence of the government on the Union’s demands.
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