Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to remain calm over the half salary paid to them for the month of October following the resumption of work after its eight months industrial action.
Gbajabiamila, in a statement, yesterday, said President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated interest to wade into the latest concerns raised by the union.
He said the no-work no-pay position of the Federal Government, which informed the decision not to pay the lecturers for the period they were on strike, was premised on the law and the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazards and discouraging disruptive industrial actions in the country.
He, however, appealed to members of ASSU to remain calm as interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers.
“We look forward to a favourable consideration by President Muhammadu Buhari, who has manifested his desire to what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues. Implementing meaningful change takes time, especially when appropriations and modifications to systems such as IPPIS are required. Therefore, I urge all parties to be patient and grant each other the presumption of goodwill to the extent necessary to achieve our shared objectives. This is not a time for political brinkmanship.
“There is no more pressing objective than to preclude the possibility of further disruptions to the academic calendar of the universities. We must prevent this possibility by all means, as these disruptions risk the promise and potential of our nation’s youth,” he said.
He lauded ASUU for callingoff their industrial action three weeks ago to allow academic activities resume in public universities, and for students to return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged strike.
“This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision. Since then, the executive and House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike. We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes N170 billion to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers. The Bill also includes additional N300 billion revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities,” he said.
