President Bola Tinubu has been told to pay the eight months’ salary arrears of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that were withheld by the previous administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In 2022, ASUU embarked on an eight-month strike due to the non-implementation of their demands by the federal government.
The government had threatened to invoke the ‘no work, no pay’ policy on the striking lecturers, and after the strike was called off, the then Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu had stated that the government would not pay anyone for work not done.
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In a recent interview in Abuja, a former federal lawmaker and All Progressives Congress, APC chieftain, Professor Haruna Yerima expressed his approval of the settlement of the eight-month arrears between the university union and the presidency.
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Yerima, who was also a professor at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, urged Tinubu to leverage the recent judgment delivered by the president of the National Industrial Court, Justice Benedict Kanyip.
The judgment stated that it was within the right of the federal government to withhold the salaries of workers who embark on industrial action.
However, Yerima also clarified that the court held that it was a violation of university autonomy for the federal government to impose the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform on members of ASUU. Yerima stated that ASUU members reserve the right to determine how their salaries should be paid.
He said:
“Looking at the NIC judgement it is clear that President Tinubu can intervene, release the withheld salaries of ASUU members, to foster a harmonious relationship between his administration and the union.
“President Bola Tinubu should be magnanimous enough to pay the eight months withheld salaries of ASUU members. This will go a long way in nipping in the bud the circumstances and trajectories that snowballed into the 2022 industrial action by the union.”
