The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is considering taking the Federal Government to court over the withheld salaries for lecturers for the past eight months.
If the government continues to pay members of the parallel union, the Congress of Nigerian University Academics, ASUU will go to court.
In an interview with Punch, the union’s lawyer, Femi Falana, revealed this.
The FG intends to pay the withheld salaries and allowances of lecturers under the auspices of CONUA through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
This was contained in a memo addressed to Dr Niyi Sunmonu, President of CONUA, by Charles Wali, Director, Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
During ASUU’s eight-month strike, the government withheld salaries from Nigerian lecturers, according to the PUNCH.
The government also registered CONUA as a trade union during the strike.
Sunmonu previously stated in an interview that members of his union did not go on strike and thus 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 remained silent.
“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.
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