Lecturers at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH) have expressed concern over the delay in the payment of their August salaries.
Some members of the academic staff, who spoke anonymously, accused the university management of deliberately withholding their salaries and demanded an explanation for the delay. The lecturers specifically alleged that the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya, had taken a unilateral decision to withhold workers’ salaries without consulting the Lagos State Government.
They noted that workers at other state-owned universities, including Lagos State University (LASU) and Lagos State University of Education (LASUED), had already received their August salaries despite ongoing industrial action by their non-academic staff. One of the lecturers said the academic staff at LASUSTECH were not on strike and therefore should not be affected by the industrial action.
However, the university management has rejected the allegation that the Vice-Chancellor deliberately withheld the salaries. The institution’s Director of Information, Lanre Kuye, explained that the August salaries had not been prepared because the non-academic staff responsible for processing them were currently on strike.
According to him, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) are among the workers involved in the industrial action. Kuye said the salaries would be processed as soon as the striking workers returned to work.
He also maintained that the Vice-Chancellor could not personally prepare the university’s salary accounts and therefore was not responsible for withholding the payments.
The dispute comes as NASU members at LASUSTECH enter their third week of industrial action, leaving academic staff demanding clarity over why their salaries have also been affected.
