Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna Central senator, has demanded the Federal Government to pay public university teachers their eight-month salaries after they called off their protest.
According to Anaedoonline.ng, the 8th National Assembly member announced this on Sunday, after President Muhammadu Buhari’s government declared that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would not be paid for the months they did not work.
Remember that ASUU began industrial action on February 14, 2022, and halted it on October 14, 2022, in response to a court order.
ASUU Strike: Why We Paid Lecturers Half Salary – FG Opens Up
Following their reinstatement, the government only paid them for 18 working days in October, depriving them of their wage for the previous seven months.
Nigerians have reacted differently to the development since then.
Sani responded on social media, saying that no public officeholder gets paid depending on the number of days worked, and that academics should be given their full salary.
“The President is in London and he is paid. No political office holder is paid based on the days he worked. Pay University lecturers their full wages,” Sani’s tweet reads.
The ASUU chapter at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) proclaimed an indefinite sit-in order for its members on Friday.
Strike Looms As ASUU Summons NEC Meeting Over Half-Salary
According to Anaedoonline.ng, the directive follows the Federal Government’s payment of half of university teachers’ October salary.
In a statement, the UNIJOS ASUU emphasized that the order would be in effect until the government paid its withheld salaries as a result of the federal government’s no work, no pay policy.
Prof Lazarus Maigoro, head of the UNIJOS ASUU branch, who signed the statement, stated that one of the agreements reached at the meeting was that 50% of lecturers’ withholding salaries would be paid to ASUU members immediately after the strike was called off.
However, Maigoro, who was dissatisfied with the payment of half salaries to ASUU members, pointed out that members of staff at some Agricultural Research Institutes have been on strike for nearly a year and have been receiving their salaries on a regular basis, so he is perplexed as to why the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, is adamant on withholding ASUU members’ salaries.
ASUU Strike Looms Again As FG Pays Lecturers Half Salaries For October
According to Maigoro, the academic organization is also aware that Ngige issued a memo to the Accountant General requesting that ASUU members be paid only from the day the strike was suspended.
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