The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has opted to bring a claim against the Federal Government for the unpaid pay owed for eight months.
Members of ASUU have allegedly promised to turn to the courts if the government starts paying members of the rival union, the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA). On Monday, the council notified Femi Falana of ASUU of this.
“We want them to pay the (CONUA) money, Falana said in response to the Federal Government’s plans to pay CONUA members but exclude ASUU. We haven’t answered as a result.
“That (the payment) will form the legal basis for the government to now pay ASUU. We will now have the legal grounds to challenge them in a court of law. Through that, ASUU will be paid. They won’t have a choice. Let them go ahead.”
The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions claims that the government has no defense.
The National President of SSANU, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, who spoke for the two factions in an interview, said: “The idea of separating some groupings is not ideal. The workstation is shared by everyone. The strike was the result of talks and renegotiations. Strikes should not be attributed to any one union. We went on strike because the government did not uphold all of the agreements we made with them 12 years ago.
“The same law says workers are free to go on strike if they go through due process, so there is no justification for not paying our members. Our members are not happy about our four months’ salaries being withheld. It was forced on us. One of the legal ways to protest was to go on strike. We have told the government to passionately look at the situation in the country. We have had our members suffer and they found it difficult to pay school fees to meet some family demands.
“Withholding the money dealt serious blows to the members of the university community, especially SSANU. We will not support any disparity. Government should pay money to all workers of the University unions. The government has no justification to withhold our money they should do the needful. ”
ASUU issued a warning in November 2022 that if the federal government continues to withhold its members’ wages under the “no work, no pay” policy, a new crisis in the university system would emerge.
The union pleaded with interested parties and well-meaning Nigerians to put pressure on the federal government to release the eight-month payments that had been withheld from its members across the country.
The government delayed the university professors’ wages after their eight-month strike was called off. During the strike, the government also formally recognized CONUA as a union.
