THE Federal Government began paying members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities their full salaries for the month of November 2022 on Wednesday.
Nigerian Tribune, however, gathered that the Federal Government has not released the eight months’ salaries of the lecturers withheld during the prolonged strike action by the ASUU that grounded academic activities in public universities for the eight months the strike lasted.
A senior member of ASUU at the University of Abuja confirmed he and some of his colleagues have started receiving their November salaries, which he noted were paid in full.
“I received my November salary today (Wednesday) and I know some of our colleagues did the same. We expected that it would come together with arrears, but that wasn’t the case,” the lecturer said.
The lecturer, who craved anonymity, expressed disappointment over the attitude of the government officials, who he said were not helpful in handling the crisis.
ASUU called off its eight-month-old strike on October 14, 2022. Lecturers were encouraged to resume back to work by the union on that same day.
In October, the lecturers were paid half salaries, which the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, explained was pro-rata payment for the days the lecturers worked after the strike was called off on October 14, 2022.
Lecturers across the country have been protesting against this decision by the Federal Government to pay them half salaries after the eight months’ salaries are being withheld.
The National Executive Council of the union is expected to hold a crucial meeting in the coming days over the withheld salaries.
The Federal Government had insisted that members of ASUU would not be paid for work not done.
On Wednesday last week at the state house in Abuja, Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, dismissed allegations that the Federal Government was trying to treat lecturers as causal workers by paying them on a pro-rata basis.
“The strike has been called off and the government has paid them what is due to them,” Adamu said.
He said the position of the government is quite clear, adding that “the government is not going to pay anyone for work not done”.
“How can anybody make a university lecturer a casual worker? Do you know the meaning of casual worker? If you know the meaning of casual worker, it is impossible to make a university lecturer a casual worker,” he said.
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