The members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the University of Jos, in Plateau State have given an indication of the next line of action after members were paid about half of their October salary, which they say, is contrary to their agreed position with the Federal Government.
The teachers have opted to stay at home until the issue of the balance of their October salary and backlog of their eight months is resolved.
The ASUU UniJos action, it was gathered, may form the position of the union as the National Executive Committee meets on Monday.
It was learnt that though members have called off their eight month old strike, they would not show up in lecture theatres; a situation that may leave hundred of thousands of students, who have resumed on campuses, stranded.
This comes as the government denied the accusation that it paid members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigeria (ASUU) half salaries in October.
Mr Olajide Oshundun, Head of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, said this in a statement he signed on Saturday in Abuja.
Oshundun said the ministry was reacting to reports on alleged selective treatment and half salary payment to ASUU members.
He described both reports as grossly inaccurate, misleading and barefaced distortion of facts.
He noted that members of ASUU were paid their October salary pro-rata, and not half salary as the media widely reported.
According to him, pro-rata was done because they cannot be paid for work not done.
He also said that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, never directed the Accountant General of the Federation to pay the university lecturers half salary.
“Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), asking ASUU to go back to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the Minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike.
“The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to Ngige 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 pro-rata according to the number of days they worked in October,’’ he said.
He added counting from the day they suspended their industrial action, pro-rata was done because “you cannot pay them for work not done. Everybody’s hands are tied.”
Oshundun also dismissed a statement by the Chairperson of ASUU, Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) branch, Muhammad Al-Mustapha, that the Minister of Labour and Employment 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 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,“ Oshundun said.
According to him, to set the records straight, the medical lecturers who are being referred to by the Chairperson of ASUU UDUS branch, abstained from the eight-month strike of ASUU.
He added that the the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MDCAN) had in a statement corroborated this on Nov. 4.
The association said in the statement, “Realising the emergency situation in the sub-region, worsened by emerging public health threats, we abstained from the strike.
“The medical and dental lecturers in UDUS decided to continue the academic activities during the ASUU strike to save our healthcare from total collapse.
Consequently, the ministry dismissed the accusation of selective treatment in payment of salaries to ASUU members, urging the media to crosscheck their facts to avoid feeding the public with the wrong information.
However, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU President, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that members of the union were shocked when they received the half salary payment.
According to Osodeke, we cannot understand what is going on. How do you pay people who are just resuming from a prolonged strike half salary.
“Well, what we need to do, is to sort it out with the Minister of Labour and Employment,” Osodeke said.
Meanwhile, the UniJos ASUU branch Chairman, Professor Lazarus Maigoro, ordered members to sit at home over the government action.
According to the statement he penned, “One of the issues agreed at the meeting was that 50% of the backlog of eight months arrears of our withheld salaries will be paid to our members immediately but as at the time of writing this press release, only 17 days prorated October salary was paid to our members by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
“Having stayed for about nine months running now, our members in the University of Jos considered this an insult to them by the Accountant Gereral of the Federation.
“Is the Accountant Gencral of the Federation actually answerable to the Minister of Labour? So, if today the Minister of Agriculture directs the Accountant General of the Federation to withhold the salaries of the staff of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have been on strike for over a year, will he obey that?
“We wonder why Ngige is keen about withholding the salaries of ASUU members because staff of some Agricultural Research Institutes have been on strike for almost a year but they have been receiving their salaries regularly. Is this policy only for ASUU members?
“We are also aware that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, wrote a memo to the Accountant General asking him to pay our members only from the day we suspended the strike.
“By this singular act, the Minister of Labour and Employment has casualised the work of the University Lecturers unfortunately.
“This further creates doubts on our minds as to whether the understanding reached with the leadership of the House of Representatives on some of the issues will be implemented at all
by those who are saddled with the responsibility of doing so in order to avoid further needless strikes.
“From all indications, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has personalised the matter between him and our union and is on a mission for vendetta.
“It has become crystal clear now that he wasn’t happy that the House of Representatives brokered a truce on some of the issues we went on strike for and has gone behind to undermine it.
“It is also very clear to us now why he shamelessly walked out on the leadership of the House of Representatives at one of the meetings with all stakeholders to the glare of all Nigerians because he never wanted any form of resolution to be reached on the issues being discussed and is the nation.
“In view of the bottleneck placed by Ngige towards paying our members the backlog of our salaries, the congress of ASUU University of Jos met today November 4, 2022 and resolved to stay at home, though not on strike until the backlog of the withheld salaries are paid.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our members are back to work, willing and ready to work but are unable to work. Based on the revised academic calendar for the 2020/2021 session approved by the senate of the University, lectures should have started already but the challenge of lack of payment of salaries has constrained our members from going to the classroom to teach.
“What this implies is that the students who have resumed already will have to wait indefinitely while we wait for our withheld salaries to be paid to us”.