The Academic Staff Union of Universities leadership expressed unawareness regarding President Bola Tinubu’s purported directive for the payment of four out of eight months of withheld salary arrears to its members.
Addressing journalists during the presentation of scholarships to university undergraduate students in Bauchi Zone at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yelwa Campus, Bauchi, the National Vice President of ASUU, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, clarified the union’s stance.
It was previously reported on October 20, 2023, that Tinubu had supposedly sanctioned a partial waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order, which was imposed on striking ASUU members during their eight-month strike starting from February 14, 2022, and ending on October 17, 2022.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed in a statement that the waiver “will allow for the previously striking members of ASUU to receive four months of salary accruals out of the eight months of salary that were withheld during the eight-month industrial action undertaken by the union.”
The statement was titled ‘President Tinubu approves partial waiver of the no work, no pay order on ASUU members; orders release of four months of withheld salary.’
However, Tinubu directed the grant of the waiver with the mandatory requirement that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour and Employment must secure a Document of Understanding establishing that the waiver granted by the President will be the last one to be granted to ASUU and all other education sector unions.
Ngelale said the President sought to “mitigate the difficulties being felt during the implementation of key economic reforms in the country, as well as his recognition of the faithful implementation of terms that were agreed upon during the deliberations between ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
But Piwuna, when asked to comment on the approval of the four-month salary arrears, said that ASUU is not aware of such.
“We are not aware that the government has awarded money to anybody. We are not aware. As a union, we are not aware of that,” he declared.
