By JOAN NWAGWU

The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has urged the Federal Government to review lecturers? salaries in line with Nigeria?s current economic realities.

Prof. Niyi Sunmonu, President of CONUA, made this call on Saturday in Abuja while reacting to the federal government?s release of N50 billion for Earned Academic Allowances for university staff.

Sunmonu said a salary review was imperative, given the high cost of living driven by rising inflation.

According to him, ?What is important to us is much more than any academic allowance; it is actually the improvement of our salaries to be commensurate with the inflationary pressures in the country.

?It was for this reason that the government, in October 2024, discriminated against us by not inviting us to the renegotiation table.

?It was on that basis that we protested, because what our sister union presented was, in our view, tantamount to negotiating us into poverty.

?We recall that in 2009, a minimum salary of N1 million, precisely N1.2 million, was proposed for professors. However, our sister union at the time, even though we belonged to that union then, rejected it, claiming it was not the product of negotiation.

?By such an attitude, we believe we were effectively negotiating ourselves into poverty, hence our protest,? he said.

He, however, commended the federal government for the release of the N50 billion for Earned Academic Allowances for university staff.

On the Re-negotiation Committee of the 2009 agreement, Sunmonu argued that CONUA had not been carried along in the negotiation process.

He stated that the last meeting CONUA physically attended by invitation was on December 20, 2024, and that no subsequent invitation had been extended to the union.

According to him, ?Only recently, on April 5, 2025, we read that Alhaji Yayale Ahmed and his committee had submitted their report.

?Of course, we have protested publicly in the newspapers, and we have also written directly to the Minister of Education, stating that any attempt to conclude negotiations without our input would endanger the peace currently enjoyed in the universities.

?No union can represent our interests better than we can ourselves. They cannot shave our heads behind our backs,? he said.

He further advised the government to ensure an equitable sharing formula among all unions. (NAN)

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