The authorities of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) have commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for what they describe as ‘listening to the voice of reason’ by discontinuing the deduction of 40 percent from the internally generated revenues (IGR) of Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions in the country.
In a statement released to the media, the Union emphasized that the deduction was a regressive policy that would be strongly protested if reintroduced by the government. The statement reads, in part: ‘The leadership of our great union receives with immense satisfaction the decision of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to suspend the regressive policy directing tertiary institutions, including colleges of education, to remit 40 percent of a non-existent IGR to the federal treasury.
With this gesture, it seems to us that our union has finally found a government compatible in disposition with our approach towards an alternative dispute resolution through constructive engagement, social dialogue, and proactive bargaining characterized by mutual respect and pliability to superior logic.
We call on Mr. President to always ensure that issues raised by labor are proactively dealt with through social dialogue and collective bargaining. By doing so, we can ensure industrial tranquility and an uninterrupted academic calendar in our institutions.
We anticipate that Mr. President will apply these laudable virtues towards addressing other festering issues plaguing the College of Education system and prone to industrial crises.
For example, the centralization of payroll administration through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System undermines the statutory functions of the governing councils and breaches the establishment integrity of the tertiary education sector in general and the College of Education system in particular.
It opens the payroll up to unilateral manipulations and all manners of fraud beyond the control of the management of our institutions.
It has eroded the power and authority of provosts and governing councils to employ, as the office of the Head of Service determines who and when to employ. IPPIS contravenes global best practices in the management of tertiary institutions and disrespects the peculiarities of the COE system.’
Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through the Honourable Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, at the University of Ibadan on Friday, November 17, 2023, notified the public of the indefinite suspension of the policy. This announcement was met with widespread criticism from Unions of Tertiary Institutions across the country, including the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), and several others.
