By John Moses
Academic staff of Nigeria’s National Mathematical Centre (NMC) have formally protested their exclusion from a ₦50 billion (approx. £26 million) academic allowance recently disbursed by the Federal Government to university personnel across the country.
In a letter addressed to Minister of Education Dr Tunji Alausa, members of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), NMC chapter, argued that their omission from the Earned Academic Allowances (EAAs) was both unjust and inconsistent with federal policy.
The letter, signed by CONUA-NMC Chairman Comrade Awogbemi Adeyeye and Secretary Comrade Okorie Okike, was made public in Abuja on Monday. It calls on the government to include NMC academic staff in the ongoing disbursement of earned allowances, with arrears dating back to 2013.
The federal government had recently approved the ₦50 billion fund for distribution among academic and non-academic staff in Nigerian universities.
The union leaders pointed out that the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had explicitly recognised the eligibility of NMC academic staff under the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). They described NMC as an inter-university centre, playing a vital role in postgraduate training and research for universities across Nigeria.
They also demanded payment of other outstanding entitlements, including field trip allowances, SIWES allowances, postgraduate study grants, and hazard allowances. Notably, they argued that while non-academic staff at the centre currently receive hazard pay, their academic counterparts — who work in similar conditions — remain excluded.
The union concluded by urging the education minister to “correct this long-standing oversight and ensure equitable treatment for all staff contributing to national development through mathematics education.”
