In continued efforts by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to challenge the payment of half salaries to its members for the month of October, a counsel to the union, Femi Falana, a counsel to the academic union has urged the Federal Government to stop provoking varsities lecturers. This was in response to the payment of half salaries to lecturers, for the month of October, 2022.
There have been reports that the Federal Government may begin paying the backlogs of salaries to the factional academic unions, the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA), who had respectively broken away from ASUU during the strike.
Falana, had made his stance known during a Channels Television Programme, Politics Today which was broadcast on Tuesday night, November 8. He had said that the ‘no work, no pay’ policy was not applicable to university lecturers.
In response to the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s statement that the payment of half salaries for the month of October was done on pro-rata basis., Falana had replied that the attempt by the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, to pay the members of factional unions would amount to aggravating ASUU members.
The legal luminary had then counselled the Federal Government to follow the provisions of the law and do the needful in order to avoid another industrial action by the academic union.
The national industrial court was also charged to consider issues and circumstances causing the whatsoever strike before taking any step.