Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor and the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has expressed deep concern over the continued neglect of certain academic and non-academic staff at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, who have reportedly gone unpaid for over five years.
Obi raised the alarm following a visit to the institution, where he met with the affected personnel and listened to their accounts of hardship and desperation.
The employees in question were recruited between 2019 and 2020, yet despite having official appointment letters, they remain excluded from the federal government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). As a result, they have never received their rightful salaries.
Describing the issue, Obi emphasized it was far more severe than delayed payment: “They have written petitions and appealed to various bodies, both within and outside Nigeria, yet the situation remains unchanged,” he said.
He revealed that the consequences of being shut out of the payroll have been devastating. Many of the workers, Obi said, shared experiences of being evicted from their homes, family separations, untreated illnesses, and in some heartbreaking cases, death due to lack of access to healthcare.
Obi strongly criticized what he termed institutional disregard for the university workers. He argued that such treatment of educators runs counter to the country’s stated commitment to improving education.
“This is not just a labour issue; it is a moral and humanitarian one. A nation that neglects its educators and university staff undermines its own future. Their dignity, like that of every Nigerian worker, must be protected,” he stated.
Calling for immediate government intervention, Obi urged that the affected staff be swiftly added to the IPPIS system and that their unpaid wages be cleared without further bureaucratic delays.
He also linked the situation at UNIZIK to broader concerns plaguing Nigeria’s public universities, including late salary payments, chronic underfunding, and deteriorating working conditions for both teaching and administrative personnel.
