Why government should pay university teachers’ salary arrears

The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it is binding on Federal Government to pay its members for the eight months they were on strike, despite its ‘no work, no pay’ policy.
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ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, made this known after the association’s special congress/protest rally, tagged, ‘ASUU’s Action: A Display of Patriotism and Intellectualism,’ held in the university campus.

The don stressed that payment of the salary arrears is the implication of the agreement, which government signed with ASUU on which basis the association suspended its strike and returned to duty.

He said that the National Industrial Court had declared that challenging the payment would be futile where an agreement was signed.
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The ASUU president told journalists that the Federal Government’s move to release N400 billion for development of universities was one of the positive fallouts from the long industrial action.

The MOUAU chapter of ASUU had, in a statement signed by its Chairperson and Secretary, Michael Ugwuene and Pol Nwiyi, respectively, decried government’s ‘No Work, No Pay’ and ‘Prorata Payment’ policies, stressing that the work of a lecturer goes beyond teaching students; hence, they work 24 hours and seven days in a week, whether on strike or not.

ASUU expressed disappointment that despite suspension of its eight months industrial action on October 14, 2022, which it embarked on to press for implementation of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement, and in obedience to the order of the National Industrial Court, as well as the intervention of notable Nigerians, the Federal Government is yet to implement the agreement, including settling salaries of members for the eight months the industrial action lasted as implied in the agreement.
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