The Federal Government has commenced the disbursement of previously withheld salaries owed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Their salary being withheld was as a result of the ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari against some university-based unions that embarked on a strike that lasted eight months in 2022.
However, In October 2023 President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four of the eight months’ worth of withheld salaries.
Sources within the academic community have confirmed that payments have now begun.
Professor Gbolahan Bolarin, the chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, verified this progress, stating, “Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in.”
Additionally, the government has increased university workers’ salaries by 35 per cent, and the universities have been granted autonomy by being removed from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System, streamlining administrative processes.