‘You Must Pay All, Not Some Of Us’ — ASUU Considers Legal Action Against FG Over Withheld Salaries

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is considering legal action against the Federal Government over the withheld eight-month salaries of its members.

Speaking to THE WHISTLER on Tuesday, the ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the government cannot pay some union members and ignore others.

Osodeke stated this in response to FG’s plans to pay the withheld salaries of members of the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA), through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation while failing to do the same for ASUU members.

CONUA, a breakaway faction of ASUU, was registered in October 2022 during the eight-month ASUU strike.

When asked to react to the FG’s plans to pay the CONUA members but not ASUU, Osodeke said as far as his union is concerned, it is impossible to pay people who do not exist as CONUA members were also on strike with ASUU before their union was registered.

“As far as we are concerned that is impossible because you can’t be paying people who don’t exist. That union was registered in October which means from March till that October, they were on strike with ASUU, because they were our members before that month when they were registered.

“So if you’re going to pay them, then you must pay everybody, when you pay some you must pay everyone,” he told our correspondent in a phone interview.

Osodeke added that the FG is just playing games and that ASUU is being patient but would take action when the time is right.

“These people are just playing games all over, the people in government are playing games and deceiving the President. When you go around all universities now, our members are busy trying to see how they can make up for the past. Our members are just being patient, at the appropriate time we will know what to do.”

Counsel for ASUU, Femi Falana SAN, had said once the government pays CONUA, ASUU will have legal grounds to challenge them in a court of law, Punch reported.

Prior to the FG’s move to pay CONUA members their withheld salaries, THE WHISTLER reported how the union threatened to drag the FG to court over the unpaid salaries, stating that it was unfair to punish its members since they did not participate in the strike action embarked upon by ASUU.