The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Calabar (UniCal) chapter, has called on the Federal Government to immediately implement the recommendations of the Prof. Nimi Briggs-led committee.
The appeal was made by Dr. Peter Ubi, Chairman of ASUU UniCal, during an interview with a news agency on Friday in Calabar.
The Briggs committee was set up to renegotiate the 2009 Federal Government–ASUU Agreement and submitted a draft renegotiated document in 2021 for approval and signing by both parties.
Ubi said the union was concerned that the Federal Government had “bluntly refused to listen to the yearnings of the union.”
“After ASUU suspended its strike and issued a one-month ultimatum, the government failed to implement any tangible commitment,” he stated.
According to him, the union initially demanded African average salaries for professors but later shifted to the West African average after government objections. He noted that the Federal Government rejected both proposals and instead presented the Briggs committee offer, which ASUU accepted “in the spirit of compromise.”
“Our surprise now is that the government has refused to sign the outcome of the Briggs-led committee which it initiated,” he said.
Ubi added that the union rejected the Federal Government’s offer of a 35 per cent salary increase because “it deviated completely” from the committee’s recommendations.
“The government is using delay tactics, but the position of ASUU has remained unchanged; we stand on the Briggs-led committee agreement,” he insisted.
It will be recalled that the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, recently said the 2009 FGN–ASUU Agreement remains the last formally signed pact with the union. According to him, the 2021 draft produced by the Briggs committee “was not signed but serves as the latest framework for discussions.”
