ASUU denies knowledge of plan to pay members’ withheld salary

The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has said it is not aware that President Bola Tinubu had directed that its members be paid four out of eight months of withheld salary arrears.

The National Vice President of ASUU, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, stated this in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of scholarships to university undergraduate students in Bauchi Zone, which was held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yelwa Campus, Bauchi, on Saturday.

The PUNCH reported on October 20, 2023, that Tinubu had approved the partial waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” order instituted against striking members of the ASUU following their eight-month strike, which began on February 14, 2022, and was terminated 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 said 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.