ASUU may go back to strike over unpaid salaries

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has said the union may embark on another round of strike if the federal government insists on ‘no work no pay’.

Associate Prof. Lazarus Maigoro, Chairman of the union in the University of Jos stated this during a peaceful protest it organised on Tuesday in Jos.

Maigoro said the federal government promised to pay lecturers four months salaries out of the eight months salaries owed if the lecturers agreed to return to class rooms.

He said that it was surprising that after the union agreed to obey court order as law abiding citizens, the federal government reneged from its promise and only paid half salary for the month of October.

According to him: “Rather than address the issues at stake for the good of University system, the Nigerian government and its hatchet men preferred to blackmail, mudsling and badmouth ASUU trying to make it look like ASUU’s insistences on the implementation of the 2009 agreement is an impossible task that may affect the finance of the country.

“While ASUU and its members, weathered the storm of salary denial in the eight months of the just suspended struggle, government through its agent, the Minister of Labour and Employment decided to implement an illegal policy of No Work No Pay on the Nigerian lecturers who are fighting for the survival of the Nigerian public Universities.

“It is worth that at this point that ASUU despite the fact that it is fighting a just cause decided to obey a strange court order to suspend its strike even though we all know that this same government is in serial disobedience of a series of court orders.

“ASUU is saying ‘no’ to the casualisation of academics in the public universities through the payment of pro-rata salary as well as withholding of its eight months withheld salaries.

“We call on Nigerians to impress on the government the need to adhere and honour agreements freely and willingly signed  and entered with the union including the conclusion of the renegotiation of 2022.

”It is on the basis of these that our national body directed all chapters to hold this peaceful protest and lecture free day to register our concern on the attempts by few Nigerians to destroy public universities,” Maigoro said.