The Akure zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the Federal Government to hire more instructors in tertiary institutions throughout the country.
It reported that universities in its zone had lost more than 40% of their lecturers.
The ASUU Akure Zone also rejected the new N48,000 proposed by the Federal Government as a minimum wage to workers in the country.
Chairman of ASUU in the zone, Prof Adeola Egbetokun, who spoke at a briefing in Akure, demanded lifting of the embargo on employment.
Prof. Egbetokun said several academic staff have retired or relocated but that government continued to block replacement of staff thereby violating the university’s laws.
He said: ” Some departments haven’t recruited a single additional staff member in nearly a decade, and the government fails to properly remunerate the few acadernic staff keeping the system from collapsing.
“We demand an end to the constraints of IPPIS (or New IPPIS) and an immediate defreezing of necessary positions across all university departments.
“It is the considered view of ASUU-NEC that the Federal Government of Nigeria should immediately deploy the instrumentality of collective bargaining to conclude the social dialogue on the new minimum wage for the country as a first step.
“Governments at the Federal, State and Council level should also take a critical look at all non-feasible policies and programme sponsored by the international morey lenders (the World Bank and it for instance ) especially with a view to reclaiming the country’s sovereignty and restoring the confidence of Nigerians in the money lenders countries.”