Senator Ali Ndume has called for a reduction in the salaries of the National Assembly members in order to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU).
Ndume made the call while reacting to the half-pay for the academic staff in Maiduguri, on Thursday.
Ndume, a former Senate Leader, advised the Buhari-led administration to constitute a high-powered standing committee of respected educationists and patriotic Nigerians to meet with the ASUU leadership to address the lingering burning issues.
According to him, As a matter of priority, and as a public servant in the legislative chambers, we dont work; so, why dont you just give us half salary and then pay ASUU?
We only assemble twice or so per week and get paid as such. Civil servants worked from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and were paid their full salaries and allowances monthly. So why will the Federal Government cut university lecturers salaries because they went on legitimate strike? Constitutionally, they are fighting for their rights and privileges.
The senator further said, It is high time they resolve the issue once and for all, even if they have to borrow or make supplementary budgets.
We are budgeting 20.5 trillion for 2023; I dont see any reason why the Government will not budget one trillion to address the lingering challenges of the education sector, including ASUU strikes. Eight months, students were at home doing nothing and they are the public and we are the public servants. In the budget for 2023, the overhead is 43 percent. If you can spend N8.3trillion on public servants, why dont you spend N1 trillion on public universities?
Even if it means that the National Assembly will reduce sitting allowances, or be paid on casual allowances basis whenever they sit at the Lower and Upper chambers, by cutting the recurrent expenditure in the budget of the federal lawmakers to settle the ASUU arrears, let it be. It will be in the overall national interest of Nigerians”, he stated.
