UPDATE ON ASUU STRIKE

Why wondering why the Nigerian Universities.  ASUU Menace (strike) has started again, it has been reviewed that the reason for the on-going ASUU strike has been as a result of income tax that is levied on all the lecturers, news gathered from the Guardian News today 7 – July 2013 by Dengist crew has clarify this issue,

THE National Universities Commission (NUC) announced at the weekend that the Federal Government released the sums of N185.4 billion, N5.7 billion and N9.6 billion respectively, to cater for personnel, overhead and capital costs to 35 federal universities, three Inter-University Centres and the Division of Agricultural Colleges, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in 2012.

  According to a statement by the Commission, even as at May this year, the Federal Government has so far released N100.5 billion to pay for personnel cost; N2.2 billion for overhead and N3.095 billion as capital grant releases.

  The Commission’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, had last Monday expressed disappointment over the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU’s) decision to proceed on strike, insisting that it was wrong for the teachers to embark on strike over “Earn Allowance,” even when their salaries are being paid regularly.

  Reacting to the union’s declaration of indefinite strike, Okojie had stated: “They (university teachers) get their salaries. On the issue of allowance, why can’t they persevere? The government did not say it would not pay. What we said was that not all lecturers are entitled to earn allowances. The figure they (ASUU) came up with was huge and we said there was a need for harmonisation, because not all of them were entitled to it. We needed to determine which lecturer deserved to get the earn allowance.”

    The statement revealed that with effect from March 2011 when the Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUSS) took effect, a professor’s annual take-home amounted to N6 million; associate professor – N5 million; senior lecturer – N4.46 million; Lecturer 1 – N2.69 million; Lecturer II – N1.99 million; assistant lecturer – N1.76 million and graduate assistant – N1.45 million.

  The statement also revealed that the Universities of Ibadan (UI), Benin and the Ahmadu Bello University got N12.7 billion; N12.3 billion and N12.8 billion respectively as personnel grant allocation and releases for 2012.   

  Within the same period, the new federal universities in Oye-Ekiti, Otuoke, Dutse, Ndufu-Alike, Lafia, Dutsin Ma, Kashere, Lokoja and Wukari, each received N687 million, N694 million, N628 million, N688 million, N737 million, N768 million, N781 million, N727.4 million and N781 million respectively, for the same purpose.  For overhead cost in 2012, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) topped the list having received N664 million, followed by the UI, UNN (University of Nigeria), and ABU, which collected N260.6 million; N228.7 million and N223.5 million respectively.

  With regard to capital grants, Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, topped the list with N1.67 billion, followed by Bayero University, Kano - N1.62 billion and the Ahmadu Bello University - N1.4 billion. The University of Port Harcourt received N600 million, while Universities of Lagos and Ibadan each got N450 million.

  Meanwhile, the opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has expressed outrage over the strike action embarked upon by ASUU.

  The statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, accused government of frittering billions of naira on white elephant projects to the detriment of the education sector, noting: “The leadership of the CPC is horrified by the on-going strike action of the ASUU”.

  Also, the Joint Tax Board (JTB) has written to ASUU Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti branch, urging compliance with the new tax regime.

  The leadership of the ASUU, EKSU chapter, had embarked on a strike in protest against what they termed “unduly high taxes”, accusing the state government of slamming high taxes on them.

  However, the JTB in a letter dated July 2, 2013, which was also copied to EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oladipo Aina, said the new tax regime was consequent upon the Personal Income Tax (Amendment) 2011, which was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

  The letter marked JTB/GC/27/VOL.6/31, which was signed by the JTB Secretary, M.L. Abubakar, emphasised that the provisions of the Act did not make any provision for tax waivers or concessions for any sector of the economy.

 It also absolved the state of any blame over the increase in taxes payable by workers, stressing that workers across the states now pay a uniform tax under the new tax law put in place by the Federal Government.

  The letter reads in part: “The Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2011 was assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan in year 2011 and its implementation has commenced fully across the country.

  “We wish to notify you that all sectors of the economy are complying, using the new provisions of the law to pay taxes accurately. It is pertinent to clarify that the sixth schedule to the Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Act 2011 duly states the relief granted to tax payers.

Source Guardian News Online