By Enyichukwu Enemanna
University lecturers in Nigeria under the auspices of Academic Staff Union of the University (ASUU) will hold a quarterly National Executive Council meeting in Calabar, Cross River State capital on Sunday where the issue of withheld salary arrears will come to the front burner, a NEC member of the union disclosed on Saturday.
“There is a quarterly NEC and it’s for the fourth quarter. Lots of issues will come up and definitely, the issue of withheld and amputated salaries will come up,” the source who pleaded for his identity not to be revealed, stated.
After the suspension of its strike on 14 October, the lecturers were paid a ‘mutilated’ salary for the month, and the remaining months’ salaries withheld.
They were paid for 18 days while government insists ASUU members will not be paid for days they did not work. November salary was however paid in full.
ASUU protested pro-rata payment pattern adopted by the federal government in October, accusing it of casualising the work of the academics.
The Executive arm of government insisted it would not shift grounds on implementing the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy, denying the lecturers payment for the 8 months they were on strike.
The decision of the government to withhold the salaries of lecturers had led to a series of protests across the country with some branches of the union calling for the sack of the minister of education, Adamu Adamu and the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige.
