FG Begins Part Payment of Withheld Salaries of Varsity Lecturers

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government has commenced the part payment of withheld salaries of Nigerian lecturers as earlier promised in October 2023 by President Bola Tinubu.

However, the payment of the withheld salaries has not extended to other university -based unions, thus resulting in threat of service withdrawal by the  affected staff.

As of Monday, members of the Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) and the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) confirmed the payment  in separate interviews with THISDAY

A senior lecturer in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Enugu state who spoke to THISDAY said he and some of his colleagues started receiving the payment alert by Sunday evening and it was for the two months of March and April 2022.

The commencement of the exercise came barely a week after the leadership of ASUU threatened to take action if agreements earlier reached with the government including the payment of the withheld salaries, were not fulfilled.

However, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU),  Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) have faulted what they described as selective payment of the withheld salaries.

The Joint Action Committee ( JAC) had written to the Chief of Staff to the President,  Femi Gbajiabiamila on the implications of the decision of the government to single out ASUU for the payment in exclusion of the other three unions.

Both unions warned government that they cannot guarantee industrial peace if nothing was done to urgently address the situation.

In the vein, NAAT has deplored the payment of four months withheld salaries to the ASUU, and the exclusion of the three other university-based unions.

It said that the federal government should be held responsible if there is any industrial crisis.