The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics on Wednesday accused the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Federal Universities of misinforming the public about the state of salaries of principal lecturers in polytechnics.
In a statement signed by the Secretary General of ASUP, Abdullahi Yalwa, and made available to our correspondent in Abuja, the union noted that the claim of the VCs that principal lecturers in polytechnics earn more than professors could cause problems during the negotiations of polytechnic lecturers.
The statement reads: “Our Union’s attention has been drawn to a statement by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities contained in the report submitted by the body to the government at the meeting of Vice-Chancellors, Chairmen of Governing Councils of Federal Universities and the Minister of Education on 6 September 2022.
“An extract from the presentation made by the CVCNU was emphatically to convey the wrong impression that principal lecturers in Nigeria’s polytechnics (and colleges of education) earn more than professors in the country’s universities.
The position of the CVCNU was made to justify the legitimate demands of our sister union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, for a wage increase.
While we understand the mindset of the CVCNU to support the aspirations of ASUU, it will only undermine the same aspiration to carry out erroneous statements as it affects the remuneration of other workers in the other levels of tertiary education in the country,
“Apart from the falsehood, it is inappropriate for the CVCNU to make such a statement at a time when our Union is also renegotiating compensation for our members, as it has the potential to create the wrong impression about the compensation of workers in polytechnics and colleges of Education, undermining the ongoing renegotiation process between the FGN and Polytechnics.
“The CVCNU undoubtedly has access to the salary structures of the various cadres of staff across the tertiary education landscape and therefore has no basis to enter into unnecessary extrapolation. The agitation for wage revision in the university system can indeed continue honorably without such a faulty reference by parties as such can only breed unnecessary rivalry in the sector.”
