ASUU set for showdown with FG over salary arrears, declares 'No Pay, No Work'

The academic union warned that the government has two weeks to pay public university lecturers their withheld salaries otherwise it would embark on an industrial action.

ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke described as unfair the payment of four months of his colleagues' 2022 withheld salaries while holding on to that of three-and-half months.

The displeased unionist made this known on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

Recall that ASUU embarked on an eight-month-long strike in 2022 when lecturers suspended academic activities in government-owned universities.

The then-President Muhammadu Buhari had refused to pay the salaries of the striking lecturers covering the period of the industrial action.

However, his successor, President Bola Tinubu, has since paid half of the arrears as the union body continues to push for full payment.

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Osodeke argued that lecturers in public universities have so far covered the work for the period that they were on strike in 2022 and should be paid accordingly.

“It’s not about paying four months out of the seven-and-half months’ withheld salaries.

“Every university in Nigeria today are in the 2023/2024 academic year which means that by September/October, they will be in the 2024/2025 academic year. The implication of this is that all the work for which we were not paid when we were on strike, we have covered them by making sacrifices," the ASUU president argued.

He added that no ASUU member has gone on leave or vacation in the last three to four years to cover the work they didn't do while on industrial action.

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Osodeke also stressed that the two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government began on Monday, May 13, 2024.

“None of our members have gone on leave in the past three to four years, we have not gone on vacation so that we can cover the work that we didn’t do while we were on strike which we have covered. You can check, ask the students. But when you said you are paying four out of seven-and-half, I don’t think you are being fair to us,” he stated.