The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted on the payment of the salary backlog to lecturers, maintaining that without the move, unfinished academic sessions should be forgotten.
President of the union Professor Emmanuel Osodeke made the remark on Friday, explaining that though public varsities have been shut since February, the lecturers should be paid since they have to teach to make up for time lost during the closure.
Osodeke was speaking during an interview on Channels Televisionโs breakfast show, Sunrise Daily following the governmentโs insistence on non-payment of the lecturers over the industrial action.
โLet me tell you the difference between ASUU and other labour unions. When other unions go on strike and come back, all those periods for which you are on strike, you donโt need to do the backlog of work,โ the ASUU chief explained.
โBut for ASUU, when we go back today, we are going to start from the 2020/2021 session. For these two sets of students that have been admitted by JAMB, we have to teach them over these periods to ensure that we meet up with the system.
โSo, we are going to do the backlog of the work we have left behind. We are not going to start today and say โThis session is 2022/2023, therefore, all these two sets of people that have been admitted by JAMB are cancelled. We have to take another admission for the 2023/2024 sessionโ.โ
According to him, if the government maintains its stance on the non-payment of salary backlog, members of the union are not obliged to make up for the lost academic time.
โIf we agree on that, therefore, the lectures we should have given [to students] for 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 [sessions], they should be allowed to go so we start a new session 2022/2023 within September which is when a new session should start,โ Professor Osodeke added.
โTherefore by July next year, I would go on my leave as we used to have in those days so that the backlog is gone. All the lectures that remain; all the two sets of admissions that JAMB has given that are waiting should become irrelevant.โ
He said that ASUU does not need a pity party over the governmentโs withholding of the lecturersโ wages, maintaining that the union โcan take careโ of its members.
