President Bola Tinubu has been urged to pay the university lecturers’ eight-month withheld salary to alleviate their suffering compounded by petrol subsidy removal.
The call was made by Professor Haruna Yerima of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in an interview with journalists on Sunday.
He said the president should use the ongoing engagement with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Congress of Nigeria (TUC) over subsidy removal to resolve the impasse between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Professor Yerima said parts of the agreement recently reached between the federal government and the organized labour was settling all outstanding salaries and wages of the federally-owned tertiary institutions across the country.
“The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions is being referred to the Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement,” the FG-NLC/TUC agreement said.
The don said it is time for President Tinubu to do the needful by paying up the withheld salaries of university teachers. “This, will among others, create a seamless relationship between his administration and ASUU. It will also alleviate the suffering of the university teachers, particularly in the face of the pains occasioned by removal of petroleum products subsidies.”
The don, who was a House of Representatives member from 2003 to 2007, also commended President Tinubu for adopting dialogue in resolving industrial relations issues.
“It is evident that President Tinubu is a pacifist and democrat who cherishes dialogue and negotiations instead of needless confrontation and showdown. His handling of the current NLC/TUC matter is commendable. He therefore needs to extend the olive branch by paying up the university teachers withheld salaries to ease their suffering, and enable them to concentrate fully in their turf of teaching and research,” Professor Yerima said.
He said President Tinubu must do his best to avoid any confrontation with the labour unions, adding that “The ‘no work, no pay’ policy adopted by the Buhari’s administration against the university lecturers less than 100 days to the 2023 general elections was unfortunately callous.”
