The Federal
Government has commenced the payment of the withheld salaries of academics
under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, PUNCH Online has
learnt.
Multiple
sources in the academic sector confirmed the development to our correspondent
in Abuja on Monday.
The
chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof.
Gbolahan Bolarin, who confirmed the development on the record, said, “Yes, it
is true. Payment has started rolling in.”
President Bola
Tinubu Tinubu had in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight
months’ ASUU withheld workers’ salaries.
The salaries
were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari
invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against some university-based unions that
embarked on a strike that lasted eight months in 2022.
The Minister
of Education, Tahir Mamman, recently said the government has increased the
university workers’ salaries by 35 per cent.
The minister
also said the government has granted autonomy to the universities by removing
them from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System.
He added that
the universities no longer need a waiver to recruit and fill vacancies.
These
resolutions were reached through informal consultations with the unions based
in the tertiary institutions, Mamman said
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