Committee of VCs misinformed FG about our salaries —Polytechnic lecturers

Polytechnic lecturers in the country have taken a swipe at the committee of vice-chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) over a report credited to it that chief lecturers in Nigeria polytechnics’(and colleges of education) earn more than professors in the universities.

The lecturers under their umbrella body, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) refuted the claim in a statement made available by its publicity secretary, Abdullahi Yalwa.

According to ASUP, the claim by CVCNU that professors in Nigerian universities earn less than chief lecturers in polytechnics and colleges of education as contained in the report submitted by the CVCNU to the government during the meeting of vice-chancellors, chairmen of governing councils of federal universities and the Minister of Education on September 6 in Abuja.

The union said that though the position of CVCNU was made to justify the legitimate demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for a wage increase and to also support the aspirations of ASUU, putting out such “fallacious statements as it affects the emoluments of other workers in the other tiers of tertiary education in the country will only undermine same aspiration.”

The union further stated that “apart from falsehood, it is also improper for CVCNU to have made such statement at a time when ASUP is also renegotiating emoluments for its members.”

It stated that doing so is capable of creating wrong impression about the emoluments of workers in polytechnics and colleges of education and thereby undermining the ongoing renegotiation process with the government.

The union said: “Without doubt, CVCNU has access to the salary structures of different cadres of staff across tertiary education in the country and therefore has no basis to indulge in needless extrapolation.

“We believe the agitation for wage review in the university system can proceed creditably without such fallacious reference as such can only breed needless rivalry in the sector.

“So, we affirm our position as a union that government and ASUP should remain faithful to collective bargaining principles in arriving at any wage review in the current dispensation in line with best practices in industrial relations.”

Tribune