August 26, (THEWILL) — Lecturers at the Bayelsa State-owned Niger Delta University, Amassoma, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest against the Federal Government’s newly introduced Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund loan scheme, describing it as “generational slavery.”
The protest followed an emergency congress of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, NDU chapter, which accused the Federal Government of neglecting long-standing agreements and failing to address the union’s demands.
The lecturers, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “FG should sign 2009 renegotiated agreement,” “Release revitalisation funds for public universities,” and “Pay 25%, 35% wage awards,” said the loan scheme was a ploy to further impoverish academics.
Chairman of ASUU-NDU, Comrade Lucky Bebeteidor Oyinkepreye, told journalists that the Federal Government was “playing with the sensibilities of lecturers” by offering loans instead of fulfilling existing agreements.
He recalled that the 2009 agreement reached with the Yayale Ahmed-led renegotiation committee remained unimplemented, adding that lecturers did not need government loans since cooperative societies within ASUU chapters already serve that purpose.
“The FG does not need to give us loans. In NDU alone, we have two cooperatives that lecturers can access.
“What we want is the payment of our outstanding 25 per cent and 35 per cent wage awards, not loans that were not even budgeted for,” he said.
Oyinkepreye also accused the government of planning to divert TETFund resources into the loan scheme, warning that such a move would further weaken public universities.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to “take a second look” at the scheme, which he described as “a diversionary ploy to enslave lecturers.”
Turning to the state government, he demanded payment of 19 months’ outstanding salaries owed lecturers, insisting that wage increases and sustainable university funding were non-negotiable.
“They have already tied our children (students) with educational loans; now they want to enslave their parents with loans too. We reject it,” he added.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
