THE Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa says lecturers in the “professoral cadre” will now enjoy a ₦140k monthly top-up with the landmark deal signed between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government.
Alausa said this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria.
“This allowance is for professors. As long as you’re a full-time professor or you’re a reader, you’ll get that additional top-up,” the minister said on the current affairs show.
“No, it’s been bucketed per annum salary, but you get it every month, and I can tell you a professor will get almost over N140,000 top-off every month. A reader gets about 70,000 top-up additional every month.”
On Wednesday, ASUU and the FG sealed a landmark deal which replaces the 2009 FG-ASUU agreement.
The push is one of the measures to end the incessant strikes by lecturers in Nigeria’s public universities.
Some of the key components of the agreement includes a 40 per cent review of emoluments for university teaching staff and the introduction of a professorial cadre.
“For the first time, the FG has approved a new professorial cadre allowance that apply to senior academics at the level of full time professors and readers in our tertiary institutions,” the minister said during the signing and unveiling of the agreement in Abuja.
“Let me emphasize clearly that these allowances apply strictly to full time and not part time professors and readers.
“This approval recognises the significant workload, administrative, scholarly and research responsibilities borne by academics at this level by the virtue of their profession and positions as professors or readers in our universities.”
When asked if the Federal Government can sustain it, Alausa said, “When the president was convinced that he had the funding, he signed off.
Today we have the funding to support the 40% salary increase that we’ve given our lecturers in all our tertiary institutions.
“We started with ASUU today. The enhanced and academic allowances, nine of them in all, have been very structured now well structured.
“The lecturers know, academics know who is paying: the one the universities will pay, and the one the federal government will pay via their personnel costs.”