Why we stopped paying lecturers’ allowances – Rector

Why did you stop paying excess workload allowance to lecturers?The excess workload allowance was part of the liabilities I inherited when I was appointed as rector in 2012. Unfortunately, there was an agreement in 2010 in respect of the payment of allowances between the lecturers and the government. I was not around but government asked […]

Why did you stop paying excess workload allowance to lecturers?
The excess workload allowance was part of the liabilities I inherited when I was appointed as rector in 2012. Unfortunately, there was an agreement in 2010 in respect of the payment of allowances between the lecturers and the government. I was not around but government asked them to discuss with their management or council in 2010 and the payment will be done in the 2011 budget. The money was not released and we started using our internally generated revenue to pay the allowance which was certainly not proper because we have similar allowances demanded by the Academic Staff Union of Universities that was paid by the government.
In the case of universities, ASUU did not ask the vice chancellors to pay but the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) said the rectors should pay; payment of allowances and salaries is to be done by the employer, which is the federal government. But if there is any consultancy work we do in the school and there is the need to give bonuses to staff, there is a sharing formula.
The revenue we generate in the school is supposed to address specific problems; our revenue is the lowest compared to its peers within the polytechnic system.  What we generate is not up to one third of what Yaba College of Technology generates and what our lecturers are demanding is much higher than that of Yaba and it is a flat rate.
I assumed work in 2012 and inherited liabilities of over N1 billion including lecturers’ excess workload allowances. There was also hazard allowance, administrative allowance for other unions and even CONTISS 15 migration monies. I remember, there was one evening programme allowance which they demanded and I insisted it must be paid. So, I directed that all the allowances should be paid because we need peace.
There was a visitation panel that said we shouldn’t pay the allowances until we ascertain who is really doing the excess work and by how much hours. We are to negotiate the amount and pay it on individual basis. That time there was no council and to carry out the audit report became a problem. Now we have a council which says we shouldn’t be using the revenues without government directives, yet we did not stop paying the allowances. We stopped because we haven’t got enough monies to continue paying them and they knew because we showed them all our account books and they accepted.
 
Are you saying there is no money in your treasury?
The last money we had in the account before we met with the union was about N40 million out of which we gave them the sum of N38 million as payment for evening programme. And the whole institution was left with N2 million.
Another complicating issue is that the unions compete among each themselves; the other two unions, Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP) equally have allowances that must be paid which is about N15 million and together with that of ASUP you have about N30 million. We also have to pay for outsource of security and cleaners about N20 million which makes it N50 million, when you multiply that by 12, it is about N600,000 million.
The total revenue we generate per annum is just about N506 million which could not even pay the allowances. The government is not even paying overhead allowance. In 2012, my overhead used to be about N28 million and it was reduced to N21 million, N18 million and in 2015 it came down to N15.5 million. And we only got full payment in January, in February we got half, none in March, April and May. This is how we are expected to pay for electricity, water and so on.
Capital funds are hardly released, in fact no polytechnic was paid in the fourth quarter of last year and the maximum payment that was made was 36 per cent. For us, we are a very old institution with dilapidation and you have to cope with a barrage of requests every day.
You are under pressure because the requests keep on coming and there is no enough money. The best we can do is to look at the totality of the revenue and see how we can reinvent it and I came up with proposals which would double our revenues next year. What we need is patience and understanding so that we can be seen to be working in synergy and allow the students to graduate. Before I came in, the students were made to repeat two times due to incessant strikes.  This is not good; our teachers were not paid these allowances and they gave us the best. I have been discussing and dialoguing with the lecturers and expect them to understand.
 
For how long have you been paying the excess workload allowance and when did you stop?
We have been paying the excess work allowance since 2012 when I came in and we stopped in February this year.

There were reports that the locals were encroaching into the polytechnic’s land. Has the matter been resolved?
The matter has not been resolved and it is still in court. We are working to make sure that our portion of the land is not taken by them.