A private University, Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, has been submerged in salaries cutting policy controversy and has triggered heavy protests amongst the academic staff.
The protests were triggered following the excessive slashing of salaries of the academic staff. SERVICOM unit and the DVC Administration, were fingered significantly, as the management unit and personnel responsible for the obnoxious policy. Benchmarks and approval of the slashing of the salary emanated from the SERVICOM and the DVC Administration, pjtvnews gathered, from reliable sources.
According to information made available to pjtvnews correspondent, the bursar of the school on a WhatsApp group, asked the lecturers to direct their inquiries and clarification to the SERVICOM and the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration.
pjtvnews correspondent was told, the obnoxious salaries cutting policy instituted by the Gregory University, Uturu, has been a regular cause of concerns, inflictions of pains, hardship, and suffering for the staff, especially the academic staff.
According to sources, the controversies surrounding the slashing of salaries and many other agitations of the staff of GUU, are all rooted in the SERVIVOM and the biometric requirements for the staff to clock in for attendance records keeping purposes.
pjtvnews correspondent, received many bitter complaints, including the following:
“Since the introduction of the biometric system, salary cutting policy became the hallmarks of the payments of the staff monthly salaries, especially because of the insistence of the GUU Management that academic staff must mandatorily meet a minimum number of attendance, monthly. The crux and the sore point of the mandatory minimum attendance requirements, for the academic staff, is the questionable and controversial demands that academic staff be present in the University, even when you have no course to teach or any other tasks to perform, academically. It’s pertinent to note, GUU academic staff are dispersed and come from different distant locations, including Benue, Imo and Rivers States. Because of acute accommodation and other logistics challenges, only few of the academic staff live in the vicinity of Gregory University, including Okigwe township and environs. The issue of mandatory attendance, is complicated by other challenges, including notably, the intractable insecurity in Okigwe and Uturu, in recent times. On many occasions, staff of GUU were victims of the prevalent insecurity in the Okigwe axis. Another significant drawback for the GUU academic and non academic staff, is the high cost of transport fares. For instance, staff coming from Ebonyi, Enugu, or Imo States, spend huge sums of money. On average, more than half of the meagre salary scale of the grossly underpaid GUU staff ends up on transportation expenses. Okada ride from ABSU to GUU, takes nothing less than #2000 and Okada ride from GUU to ABSU, is oftentimes #2500. These are well known sources of draining the purse of the GUU Staff, in the face of scandalously low and absurd salary structure of GUU, as a tertiary institution. It’s no secret that some secondary school teachers earn more salaries than GUU academic staff, armed with higher degrees and PhDs. Another setback is the notorious late payments of the salaries, oftentimes, two weeks into another/new month, salaries of the previous month are pending and unpaid. GUU academic staff despite this unnecessary inconvenience and mistreatment, are expected to come to GUU to deliver lectures and perform other tasks but punished by means of the salary cutting policy, without addressing late payments of salaries.The Management, is not bothered about irregular payments system, particularly consistently late payments, but the Management is swift to cut salaries, even when it is obvious the delayed and late salaries payments are impediments to the staff, in terms of sourcing alternative sources of funds to come to work. GUU salary structure is highly exploitative and inhuman. It’s more of a modern slavery system, taking undue advantage of the abundance of qualified academic staff, by making a mockery of the academic faculty as cheap commodities. Majority of the lecturers of GUU are protesting over the late payments of salaries and slashing of salaries in this hard times. Some lecturers received as low as 19, 000 Naira and some professors received as low as 30, 000 Naira as the July, 2025 salaries”.
According to available information, the staff of GUU started receiving the July, 2025 salaries on 13 of August.
All efforts to reach the Bursar on the phone proved abortive at the time of this report.
