By Peter Omopo
Academic staff of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, on Tuesday, staged a protest demanding an end to what they described as “poverty salaries,” as they joined the nationwide demonstration organised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Led by the branch chairman, Dr. Innocent Nnubia, the lecturers blocked sections of the Enugu–Awka–Onitsha Expressway and marched across the university campus carrying placards with inscriptions such as “End poverty salary now,” “FG stop deceiving us,” and “We don’t want loan, pay us our money.”
Nnubia lamented that university lecturers have been on the same salary scale for 16 years, despite rising economic hardship. He accused the federal government of failing to implement the renegotiated 2009 agreement, describing the situation as “a show of shame.”
“As of 2009, a professor earned about $3,000 in salary, but today it is less than $400. This is pitiable and unacceptable,” he said.
The union’s demands include the release of three and a half months’ withheld salaries from the 2022 strike, payment of outstanding 25–35% salary arrears, settlement of over four years’ promotion arrears, adequate funding of universities, and an end to the victimisation of members in some institutions.
The lecturers also accused the government of failing to remit third-party deductions such as cooperative contributions, calling it “a criminal act to withhold workers’ money.”
Warning that industrial harmony could no longer be guaranteed if the grievances remain unaddressed, the union urged urgent government intervention.
Reacting to the protest, UNIZIK’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Carol Arinze-Umobi, represented by Council Member Pius Okoye, commended the peaceful nature of the demonstration and assured the lecturers that their complaints would be communicated to the appropriate authorities.
