ASUU to EMBARK ON FRESH STRIKE OVER NON-PAYMENT OF MEMBERS' SALARIES

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASU) has threatened to embark on an industrial action if the 13 months salaries of over 1,000 of its members across the country were not paid.

Lazaras Maigoro, Chairman, University of Jos chapter of the union, who stated this in a statement on Saturday, in Jos, added that the Federal Government had also withheld the check-off dues of the affected members. He accused Ahmed Idris, the Accountant General of Federation (AGF), of systematically denying the lecturers their remuneration, even after government and the union had reached an agreement on non-victimisation of its members following their last strike.

The chairman alleged that the affected members were being threatened to either enrol into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform, or have their salaries withheld.

He explained that despite the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari that members of the union be paid their full remuneration, the Accountant-General had dented the affected union members their pay, in a complete violation of the terms of the agreement signed between the union and government.

Mr. Maigoro said that the office of the Accountant-General had continued to feed the public and some sections of government with false reasons over the matter, such as incorrect BVN numbers, incorrectly spelt names and their sequential arrangement, among others.