NAAT Rejects Federal Gov’t Loan Scheme

The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has turned down the federal government’s Tertiary Institutions Staff Support Fund (TISSF), describing it as a misplaced priority that risks plunging tertiary institution workers into long-term debt.

The TISSF, recently announced as a Federal Ministry of Education and TETFund-backed programme was introduced as a financial support scheme for staff in Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions.

However, NAAT believed that the initiative failed to address the real issues affecting academic technologists.

In a statement signed by its National President, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma, the union said the scheme essentially amounts to taking salaries in advance, noting that members already have access to cooperative societies that cater to short-term financial needs.

“After carefully perusing the document on TISSF loan, NAAT views it as a distraction, and therefore rejects it and wish to make it categorically clear that her members do not need a loan that will perpetually enslave them as it amounts to taking their salaries in advance since there are NAAT cooperatives to take care of the short-term financial needs of members.

“Rather, NAAT demands the payment of all outstanding arrears legitimately earned by her members”, the statement reads.

The association listed several outstanding payments it wants cleared to include three and a half months of withheld salaries, seven months’ arrears of Occupational Hazard Allowance (OHA), eleven months’ arrears of Responsibility Allowance (RA) and a 12-month backlog from the 25 percent and 35 percent salary increase.

The union also itemised four months arrears of wage awards, unpaid arrears from the 2019 N30,000 minimum wage for omitted members, release of supplementary funds to settle earned allowances and third-party deductions from previously withheld salaries as their most pressing needs.

NAAT further expressed outrage over the alleged revocation of 7,000 out of 11,000 hectares of Yakubu Gowon University land, formerly University of Abuja by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

The union described the move as unilateral and a violation of the laws governing the institution, stressing that any such decision requires an amendment by the National Assembly.

“This land is not just an asset that can be disposed of at will. It is a national treasure meant to support the university’s future from research centres and new academic programmes to increase student accommodation,” NAAT noted.

The association warned that reducing the University’s land to 4,000 hectares will distort its masterplan and cripple future expansion projects, ultimately affecting the institution’s contribution to national development.

NAAT urged the federal government to channel the TISSF funds towards clearing outstanding staff claims instead, and called on the National Assembly’s committees on tertiary education and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to step in and reverse the land revocation.