LASUSTECH Lecturers Protest Unpaid August Salaries Amidst Strike

Lecturers at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) are protesting the non-payment of their August salaries, demanding immediate clarification from the institution's management. A significant portion of the teaching staff, speaking anonymously, accused university leadership of deliberately withholding their pay for August.

These aggrieved lecturers allege that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya, made a unilateral decision to withhold salaries without involving the Lagos State Government. They pointed out that lecturers at other state-owned institutions, such as Lagos State University and Lagos State University of Education, have already received their August salaries, even though their non-academic staff are also on strike. "The VC has taken a unilateral decision to withhold workers’ salary without recourse to the Lagos State Government," one lecturer stated.

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The VC has taken a unilateral decision to withhold workers’ salary without recourse to the Lagos State Government. The other state-owned universities whose non-academic staff unions are equally on strike have since paid their workers’ August salary. “Meanwhile, the LASUSTECH academic staff are not on strike, but they have refused to pay us. LASG has not issued any directive to the VC to withhold workers’ salary,”

However, the university's Director of Information, Lanre Kuye, refuted these claims. Kuye explained that the August salary payment is pending because the processing is handled by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), both of which are currently on strike. He asserted that the delay is not due to the Vice-Chancellor withholding funds but rather the ongoing industrial action by the non-academic staff, which has been ongoing for three weeks.

Kuye assured that the salaries would be processed and paid as soon as the strike is suspended. He clarified that the Vice-Chancellor, being a medical doctor, is not directly involved in the preparation of salary accounts. The university management insists that the Lagos State Government has been supportive, and no directive has been issued to withhold salaries. The situation highlights the disruption caused by the strike of non-academic staff on the university's financial operations.

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It is only the August salary that has not been paid. The reason being that nobody prepared it. The state government has been doing well for us but nobody has prepared the salary. Personally, I want them to suspend the strike to come and prepare the salary. “Salaries are being prepared by NASU and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities who are on strike. It is not true that the Vice-Chancellor is withholding their salaries. It would be prepared immediately if they suspend the strike. The VC cannot prepare the account. He is a medical doctor.”