Chairman,
Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters, Aloysius
Etok, said on Monday that the ongoing negotiations between the Federal
Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, “would be null
and void without the input of the National Wages and Salaries
Commission.”
Etok said this in Abuja during his committee’s oversight tour on the activities of the agency.
“Under no guise should the Federal
Government negotiate salary or wage increase without the input of the
relevant commission,” he said.
The senator also advised the government against “sentimental negotiation for salary increase in the civil service.”
He noted that such negotiation was the cause of the incessant industrial actions in the country.
He said, “We have said this earlier that
on no account should the Federal Government in particular go on
negotiation for salary increase or anything that has to do with wages or
salary without the input of the commission.
“They should avoid the issue of
sentimental increase or negotiation. We should cancel exceptions. Four
months is about a semester.
“The commission was expected to have
played a prominent role in the 2009 agreement reached between the
Federal Government and ASUU.”
Etok chided the commission over the
implementation of the 2013 budget as well as on why the impact of the
commission was not felt on Public workers’ salary crises that tended to
cripple some sectors of the economy from time to time.
He said, “The commission might look
small but its importance cannot be under-estimated. We have come to
know your level of implementation of the 2013 budget.
“We also want to know the relevance of
the commission to the Federal Government and why your impact is not felt
in the salary problems across the country.
“We should ensure that the commission
would be there when ASUU is on strike for months as well as who guided
the Federal Government in the agreement entered with ASUU in 2009. You
cannot be ruled out in the scheme of things in this country.”
Etok also lamented the withholding of
part of the 2013 budget of the commission and maintained that the
commission required funds to carry out its research-based projects.
He said, “We frown on this situation and
we want to call on the Minister of Finance to do something so that you
can lay a proper foundation for the commission.”
The Chairman, National Income, Salaries
and Wages Commission, Dr. Richard Egbule, exonerated the commission
from the agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU.
He said, “The wages commission has been up and doing in everything concerning wages and salary in this country.
“When the controversial agreement was
reached in 2009, we were there but not as negotiators. We made it known
to them that the route they were going was wrong.
“Today, I wish to say that ASUU did not go on strike because of salary due to the fact that we handled it very well.”
“What is controversial was the
Excess Workload Allowance but we have asked them to employ more
lecturers to avoid excess workload.www.mannstores.com
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