Following an emergency meeting, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) released a statement about the partial payment of salary that its members received for the month of October.ASUU's National Executive Council (NEC) conducted an urgent meeting on the half salaries on Monday.
ASUU noted with dismay that its members were being paid on a "pro-rata" basis, like casual workers, after suspending its strike in response to the interventions of the speaker of the House of Representatives and other well-meaning Nigerians, according to a statement released by the organization's president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, after the meeting.
The union claimed that the government's decision to pay its members 18 days' compensation violates "all established standards of engagement in any contract of employment for academics throughout the world."
Part of the statement states, "The union's decision was a display of obvious confidence in the judiciary and other institutions and organs of government to always place the national interest above all other concerns.
"This, we as a union of thinkers, intellectuals, and patriots feel, would not only aid in the process of peacefully resolving the issue, but will also lay the stage for harmonious industrial ties between the Government and the majority of Nigerian workers.
"Unfortunately, the government's response to ASUU's demonstration of trust was the so-called "pro-rata" payment for eighteen days as the academics' October 2022 salaries, portraying them as daily paid workers! "NEC noted with dismay that paying academics on a "pro-rata" basis, like casual workers, is unprecedented in the history of university-oriented labor relations and, as a result, condemned this attempt to turn Nigerian scholars into casual workers in its entirety.
The union praised its members for their resilience in the face of adversity and made an appeal for patience from students and other worried Nigerians as it works to find a lasting solution to the situation.
According to a report, Femi Falana SAN, the legal counsel for ASUU, said that the government's plan to pay teachers "pro-rata" is flawed because the universities had changed their academic calendars to prevent the cancellation of the 2021–2022 academic session.
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