Pay varsity lecturers’ withheld salaries, don begs Tinubu

A renowned professor from Ahmadu Bello University, Haruna Yerima, on Sunday appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider payment of the university lecturers’ eight-month withheld salaries.

The university don, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, argued that paying the eight-month salaries would alleviate the teachers’ sufferings which have been compounded by the removal of fuel subsidy.

He advised the president to use the ongoing engagement with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Congress of Nigeria (TUC) over subsidy removal to resolve the impasse between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Yerima said parts of the agreement recently reached between the federal government and organized labour was settling all outstanding salaries and wages of the federally-owned tertiary institutions across the country.

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He said it was time for the president to do the needful by paying up the withheld salaries of university teachers.

The don, who was a House of Representatives member from 2003 to 2007, also commended the president for adopting dialogue in resolving industrial relations issues.

He said Tinubu must do his best to avoid any confrontation with the labour unions, adding that, “The ‘no work, no pay’ policy adopted by the Buhari’s administration against the university lecturers less than 100 days to the 2023 general elections was unfortunately callous.”