BY: News Pddlers
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| Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige |
The Federal Government on Saturday explained why it failed to pay full salaries to lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
In a statement, by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the government noted that members of ASUU were paid their October salary pro-rata.
According to the ministry, pro-rata was done because they cannot be paid for work not done.
The statement further clarified that the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, never directed the Accountant General of the Federation to pay the university 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 return to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the Minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike," the statement reads in part. In a similar vein, the Federal Ministry of Education wrote to him, and our labor inspectors in various states confirmed that they had resumed work.
"Those obviously referred to by the UDUS ASUU chairperson were members of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association who abstained from the ASUU's eight-month strike because they despised the union's incessant strikes and their grave consequences for medical education in Nigeria and the production of more medical doctors."
"Accusing the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, of partial salary payment to selected professional ASUU members is a blatant distortion of facts." Mustapha stated that he received information that a segment of the staff in the College of Health Sciences had seven months of their withheld salaries paid from March to September, as a result of a letter written to the Minister of Finance instructing the exemption of the under-listed staff from the application of the 'No Work, No Pay' rule.
"To clarify, the medical lecturers referred to by the Chairperson of the ASUU UDUS branch did not participate in ASUU's eight-month strike." This was confirmed in a press statement issued by MDCAN UdUS Chairman Dr. B. Jubrin and Secretary Dr. I. G Ango on Friday, November 4, 2022."
"Realizing the emergency situation in the sub-region worsened by emerging public health threats, the medical and dental lecturers at UDUS decided to continue academic activities during the ASUU strike to save our healthcare from total collapse," according to Dr. Jubrin's press statement. To that end, UDUS medical lecturers agreed to hold lectures and examinations during the strike.
"In accordance with the provisions of the Labour Act, we wrote and requested the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Employment to ensure that our salaries were paid." After carefully reviewing our submission and that of the university administration, the Minister agreed. This is not an act of favoritism, as the ASUU, UDUS branch leadership claimed in a press release.
"ASUU, UDUS branch, as an organization, is expected to protect the interests of all of its members and to recognize the differences or peculiarities of medical education." The ASUU can legitimately fight for its legal rights without infringing on the rights of other university employees. We hope that this response helps to put things into perspective.