By Noah Danladi
Attempts by some individuals to politicise the ongoing warning strike by lecturers and workers of Kaduna State Tertiary Institutions, is a clear case of absurdity, unpatriotism and a great disservice to the state government and its citizens.
I write with a deep sense of responsibility, patriotism and due diligence to bear my mind on the unfortunate and dishonest attempts by certain individuals in the State to politcise the ongoing Warning Strike declared by the Joint Unions of Tertiary Institutions of Kaduna state (JUTIKS).
I write first as a bona-fide Citizen of the State, secondly as an academic Staff in one of the Institutions and lastly as one time Chairman of the Joint Unions of the State Owned Tertiary Institutions (2017-2021).
Let me Start by appreciating the labour friendly disposition of the State Government especially the Executive Governor, Senator Uba Sani for opening up the doors of his office to dialogue with the Unions on this matter and other burning issues that have festered for too long unlike the preceding Administration of the State that adopted a hostile and Labour unfriendly posture and subsequently closed it doors to the Unions leading to this prolonged dispute. I commend the Executive Governor on this aspect and admonish him to sustain this democratic gesture.
In addressing the issues in contention, Salaries and conditions of Service of Tertiary Institutions are crafted by their respective regulatory bodies in Collaboration with the Unions, and other critical stake holders including the Federal Ministry of Education, Federal Ministry of Finance, while the National Revenue Mobilisation,,Fiscal,, Salaries and Wages Commission ratifies it in consultation with the Federal and States Governments for Salaries.
The Consolidated Polytechnic and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Education Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS) was introduced in September 2009 but was fully implemented in January, 2010 in all Federal Tertiary Institutions and good number of State owned Tertiary Institutions. In Kaduna State, the Unions in these institutions started appealing for its implementation as early as late 2010 to no avail and kept engaging Government for four years until 2014 when the State Government at that time had a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Unions of Tertiary Institutions in the State to convert the mutilated CONTISS Salary Structure to an equivalent of CONPCASS/ CONTEDISS with an agreement to implement the balance of that in 2015 once the revenue profile of the State improves. Gladly, the revenue profile of the State significantlimproved in 2015 but the succeeding Government reneged by not honouring the terms of the 2014 MOU. This struggles continued till 2019 when the Unions sought audience with the then Governor- Mallam Nasiru El’ Rufai on the issues to no avail.
This compelled the Unions to declare an industrial dispute with the State Government after writing an Open Letter to Governor El -rufai on the issues in one of our National Dailies- The Daily Trust edition of Friday January 24th, 2020 clearly drawing Government ‘s attention to the lingering issues while appealing to Government to address same in the interests of industrial peace and harmony.
This again fell on deaf ears as the then Government neither listened nor acted. The Unions wrote again and warmed Government of an impending industrial action. Government responded by setting up a Committee to review the Challenges of Tertiary Institutions with a view to addressing them. The Committee eventually submitted a report recommending the improvement of infrastructure of these institutions, payment of the approved Salary Structures, conditional/ Partial implementation of the 65 years retirement age for academic Staff and upward review of School fees among other sundry issues.
The State Government refused to implement these recommendations but selected those that favoured the Government eg upward review of School fees and partial implementation of the 65 years retirement age for only academic Staff since it attracted more financial cost. As I write, Kaduna State of all the States of the Federation remains the only State paying a mutilated version of the obsolete CONTISS Salary Structure to Staff of its Tertiary Institutions. It must be noted that the conditions of Service of all Tertiary Institutions including criteria for recruitment, promotion, discipline, job specification etc. are the same for Federal and State Owned Tertiary Institutions since they are all regulated by the same bodies.
Suffice it to say that the Lecturers and other Workers of Kaduna state Tertiary Institutions have been working under a very hostile, degrading and frustrating atmosphere, yet they have maintained commitment and dedication to their duties despite the untold hardship under which they work. What is currently playing out is a case of a frustrated Labour whose patience and perseverance have been overstretched beyond limits.
For the avoidance of doubt, a newly employed Lecturer in Kaduna State Tertiary Institutions take home as monthly salary a paltry sum of N63,000 or at most N64,000 as against N140,000- 150,000 in other tertiary institutions in the same country for both States and Federal institutions while the highest ranking Chief Lecturers in Kaduna State takes home between N230,000 – N250,000 as monthly Salary as against between N550,000 – N670,000 in other tertiary institutions, depending on their steps.
Evidently, the disparity is too wide, unjustified and a clear case of workers’ exploitation, thereby exacerbating the hardship experienced by workers in those Institutions, especially given the inflationary trends in the Country sequel to the severe devaluation of the naira.
Similarly, a National policy of retirement at age 65 for Staff of Tertiary Institutions which was also introduced in January, 2010 has just recently been approved for Lecturers after series of struggles with the State Government, this is even unbelievable for a State with Zero Capacity to attract external qualified and experienced manpower from other Tertiary Institutions in the Country due to poor conditions of service especially remuneration..
The State Tertiary Institutions have also been plagued by dilapidated infrastructure due to outright Government’s neglect by successive governments of the State. Without the Federal Government’s TETFUND, projects in our Institutions, these schools will just be a set of glorified secondary schools.. In addition, in Institutions such as Kaduna State College of Education Gidan, Waya, more than half of the lecturers operate without functional Offices, consequently, some use shades of trees, common rooms or Students Lecture rooms as offices. This can not be sustained as it’s unacceptable. The simplicity, modesty, maturity tolerance and understanding of our members should be recoprocated with respect and improved welfare and other conditions of service, instead of being misconstrued as a sign of weakness and treated as such. This is currently the scenario now.
Regrettably, Kaduna State Tertiary Institutions is currently witnessing massive brain drain of qualified and experienced academics, no thanks to poor conditions of service in quest of greener pastures in other Tertiary Institutions in the Country. Our Tertiary Institutions are currently been used as training grounds where unemployed fresh graduates come and acquire the necessary experience, and within 4- 5 years, they move out to other institutions. For how long will Kaduna State Government continue to sustain this misnomer? Kaduna State has over the years been regarded as a “Role Model” and no wonder tagged “The Centre of Learning ” . But can Kaduna State still lay claim to these once deserved attributes? Certainly, No, at least for now.
While I salute the efforts of the State Government in addressing deficits in other Sectors of the State economy, I wish to humbly appeal to the State Governor to consider the need for pursuing a balanced developmental approach without neglecting other Sectors or sub-sectors especially that Education remains the indisputable bedrock of every meaningful development.
On this note, may I call on our peoples ‘ Governor, His Excellency Senator Uba Sani to listen to the voices of reason and dialogue with Unions in these institutions with a view to addressing these legitimate concerns that have lingered for too long .
His Excellency should be encouraged to write his name in gold by implementing the long awaited CONPCASS/ CONTEDISS Salary Structure, address issues of infrastructural deficits in these institutions and implement the 65 years retirement age policy for non-teaching staff in these institutions. Once this is done, Government can be rest assured of renewed commitment of staff to their duties and responsibilities.
I call on all well -meaning Citizens and residents of goodwill to support workers of Kaduna state Tertiary Institutions by encouraging the State Government to address the issues in contention, instead of playing negative partisan self-seeking politics with the current scenario. While we keep complaining of falling standard of Education, the same people are working against moves to improve on the system they condemn. Kaduna State can not afford to be singled out as the only bad egg or deviant of all the states in Nigeria. If we must be unique or different from others, then, we should be positively unique and not negatively unique.
This Strike must not be allowed to go on. Government should do the needful, while Unions are encouraged to embrace constructive dialogue with the State Government with a view to resolving the impasse.
Mr. Danladi wrote in from Kafanchan, Kaduna State
