By Raphael Nkra
The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) on Thursday protested the non payment of 13 months CONRAISS arrears.
ASURI is a union registered under the Trade Union Act Cap 437 of 1990 and is saddled with registering & catering to all members whilst providing good synergy at their place of work with the sole purpose of creating high standards & improvement in outputs
Secretary-General of the ASURI, Dr Theophilus Ndubuaku said this during a peaceful rally organized by the association to appeal to the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed to release their arrears to them as approved by the FG.
When asked if the association is suspecting fowl playing by the ministry of Finance, Dr. Ndubuaku said,” Let me put it this way, if they were not sitting on the money how comes they have paid some people and not paying others, do they want us to come through the backdoor to renegotiate the negotiated arrears.
“We’ve negotiated and the FG approves that we should be paid, now are we going to the ministry of Finance to now renegotiate the mode of payments,” he queried.
Dr. Ndubuaku said Nigerian leaders are deliberately neglecting research in the country which is why poverty, crimes, and other social vices are increasing on a daily basis, stressing that there is no country in the world that can develop without taking research as a vital component.
He stated further that the successive leadership of this country has criminally neglected research as such there is no way they can solve insecurity, poverty, and other social vices staring at our faces on a daily basis without resorting to research. He noted that if the leaders are sincere with themselves, then they should make the research institutions what they should be and see if these current challenges the country is facing will not be decimated.
According to him, the FG has owed their arrears for the past 13 years, a situation where some of its members have died, some are sick, and some have retired from service, despite several approvals from the FG for the Ministry of Finance to pay them.
