The Federal Government has said it cannot pay members of the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) for work not done.

The Star recalls that ASUU members, on Thursday, decried the Federal Government’s decision to pay them half salaries.

The lecturers had said they only got payment for 18 working days in October.

Speaking on the development, the Federal Government, in a statement issued on Saturday by the Head of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, said ASUU members were paid their October salary pro-rata.

The government noted that pro-rata was done because the lecturers cannot be paid for work not done.

It added that the Accountant General of the Federation was not directed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to pay the lecturers half salaries.

“Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, asking ASUU to go back to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the Minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike.

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“The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to him in a similar vein and our labour inspectors in various states also confirmed that they have resumed work.

“So, the Minister wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, directing that their salaries should be restored. They were paid in pro-rata for the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day that they suspended their industrial action. Pro-rata was done because you cannot pay them for work not done. Everybody’s hands are tied,” the statement partly read.

The government further dismissed a statement by the Chairperson of ASUU, Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) branch, Muhammad Al-Mustapha, that Ngige was biased in the payment of salaries to selected professional members of the union.

“Those obviously being referred to by the UDUS ASUU chairperson are members of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN) who abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU.

“This is because they abhorred the incessant strikes by the union and its grave effects on medical education in Nigeria and production of more medical doctors.

“Accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment of biased payment of salaries to selected professional members of ASUU is a barefaced distortion of facts.

“Mustapha said he received information that a segment of the staff in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) has been paid seven months of their withheld salaries from March to September.

“He added that this was due to a letter written to the Minister of Finance, instructing the exemption of the listed staff on the application of ‘No Work, No Pay’ rule,“ it said.

ASUU embarked on an industrial action on February 14, 2022, to press home an improved academic environment and welfare of members.

However, the union, on October 14, suspended its eight-month-old strike and directed lecturers to resume academic activities immediately.

The Star