The federal government has started the payment of withheld salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The salaries were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against some ASUU that embarked on a strike, which lasted for eight months in 2022.
The branch chairman of the association at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Mr Gbolahan Bolarin, confirmed the development on Monday.
“Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in,” The Nation quoted him as saying.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu had in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight months’ ASUU members’ withheld salaries.
Recently, the minister of education, Prof Tahir Mamman, said the government had increased the university workers’ salaries by 35 per cent.
Besides, he announced that the government had granted autonomy to the universities by removing them from the controversial Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), adding that the universities would no longer need a waiver to recruit and fill vacancies.
