ASUU strike: Lecturers may sue FG over withheld salaries

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are considering dragging the Federal Government to court, over the eight months’ withheld salaries for lecturers.

ASUU will resort to the court if the government goes ahead to pay members of the parallel union, the Congress of Nigerian University Academics.

The union’s lawyer, Femi Falana, disclosed this in an interview with Punch.

The FG, through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, is set to pay the withheld salaries and allowances of lecturers under the aegis of CONUA.

This was contained in a memo addressed to the President, CONUA, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, by the Director, Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Charles Wali.

The PUNCH had also reported how the government withheld the salaries of Nigerian lecturers during the eight-month strike by ASUU.

During the strike, the government also registered CONUA as a trade union.

In an earlier interview, Sunmonu had said that members of his union did not embark on strike and hence should not have their salaries withheld.

When asked for his reaction to the plan by the FG to pay CONUA members and leave out ASUU, Falana said, “We want them to pay the (CONUA) money. That is why we have not reacted.

“That (the payment) will form the legal basis for the government to now pay ASUU. We will now have the legal grounds to challenge them in a court of law. Through that, ASUU will be paid. They won’t have a choice. Let them go ahead.”

The National President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report.