Withheld salaries: ASUU mulls legal action over FG’s plan to pay faction union

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is considering legal action against the federal government over the withheld salaries of its members.  

Femi Falana, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), counsel to ASUU, disclosed this to TheCable on Tuesday.

BACKGROUND

In 2022, ASUU embarked on an eight-month strike over the non-implementation of its demands by the government.

Members of the union have been at loggerheads with the government since the strike ended, over non-payment of their salaries for the period the strike lasted.

Amid the face-off, the federal government announced plans to pay the withheld salaries of lecturers under Congress of University Academics (CONUA) — a breakaway faction of ASUU.

CONUA, which was officially registered in October 2022, has consistently maintained that its members were not part of the strike.

The government had in a recent letter asked Niyi Sunmonu, national coordinator of CONUA, to send a list of members and their details to the accountant-general’s office to facilitate payment of the withheld salaries.

This has continued to elicit mixed reactions, with lecturers under ASUU faulting the move.

‘WE ARE WAITING’

Speaking on the development, Falana said ASUU was waiting for the government to pay lecturers under CONUA before taking action.

“We don’t have instruction to go to court yet but you are aware that the government is planning to pay lecturers under CONUA. So, we are waiting for that to happen,” he said.