FG vs ASUU: Fresh showdown looms over October half salary

By Adeleye Kunle

A fresh round of crisis is increasingly brewing in Nigeria’s public universities just two weeks after the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, called off its eight-month strike.

The lecturers under the umbrella of ASUU were on Monday bewildered, following the payment of salary for only 18 working days in the month of October to its members by the Federal Government.

Recall that the union had called off its eight-month strike on October 14, 2022, after the intervention by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

TRACK news reported that the Nigerian government had insisted on implementing the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy for the period the university workers were away from their duty posts.

However, the Speaker waded into the imbroglio between the Union and the FG after all negotiations had failed.

Within a few days of his mediation, Gbajabiamila was able to negotiate an acceptable agreement between the duo, with a promise to pay the university workers their withheld salaries for the months they didn’t work.

However, things took a new turn on Thursday when feelers came in that the FG didn’t keep to its word, as ASUU members were paid a half month salary