President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to release the eight months’ salary arrears of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) withheld by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
This appeal was made by a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former federal lawmaker, Professor Haruna Yerima, in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Monday.
He said the settlement of the eight-month arrears will create a mutual understanding between the university union and the president.
Buhari withheld the eight months’ salary of the academic union staff during their industrial action last year, citing the ‘no work, no pay’ federal government industrial policy.
Several appeals to Mr Buhari to pay up the salary arrears fell into deaf ears despite ASUU’s calling-off the strike that paralyzed academic activities and traumatized students, parents and even lecturers.
The federal government had dragged ASUU before the National Industrial Court over the demand of the union for the payment of their salaries from February 14 to October 7, 2022, when the strike was called off.
Professor Yerima, who teaches at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, urged Tinubu to leverage on the last week judgment delivered by the President of the National Industrial Court, Justice Benedict Kanyip, which held that it is within the right of the federal government to withhold the salaries of workers who embark on industrial action.
The court, the don said, however, held that it is a violation of University Autonomy for the federal government to impose the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform on members of ASUU who reserve the right to determine how their salaries should be paid.
“Looking at the NIC judgement it is clear that President Tinubu can intervene, release the withheld salaries of ASUU members, to foster a harmonious relationship between his administration and the union,” he said.
He said the president can easily do that, “bearing in mind that his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, was a university lecturer, and therefore understands the peculiarities of the academic sector. Releasing the withheld funds will be a harbinger of robust and mutual understanding between the government and the varsity teachers.”
“President Bola Tinubu should be magnanimous enough to pay the eight months withheld salaries of ASUU members. This will go a long way in nipping in the bud the circumstances and trajectories that snowballed into the 2022 industrial action by the union,” the APC chieftain said.
The former lawmaker said Mr Tinubu has nothing to lose “by releasing the withheld ASUU salaries. It will deepen a robust relationship between the teachers and the new administration.”
Professor Yerima said the weaponisation of the ‘no work, no pay’ policy by the Buhari administration “only compounded an already badly handled situation. But President Tinubu has all it takes not to take that dangerous route. He is a pacific democrat that believes in justice and dialogue. The release of the withheld salaries is an aperture that will smooth the soared relationship between the federal government and the union.”
