Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights advocate, Femi Falana, (SAN), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to direct that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) be paid their full salaries.
Recall that the confusion arose on Thursday, when some ASUU members were not paid their full salary for October. The union had on October 14 called-off its eight-month strike.
Head of Press and Public relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, had said ASUU members were paid their October salary pro-rata, and not half salary as reported. According to Oshundun, pro-rata was done because the union could not be paid for work not done.
Reacting to the development, Falana, who is also ASUU’s legal representative, said the position of the Federal Government on the matter is “factually faulty and legally misleading”. He argued that since Buhari overruled the ‘no-work-no-pay’ principle invoked on members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD), it is logical to do the same for ASUU.
Falana asked the President to ignore the advice of Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, to pay ASUU members their full salaries from February to October. “The position of the Federal Government is factually faulty and legally misleading”, he said.
The senior lawyer said if the Government fails to pay, it would be accused of engaging in the selective application of the “no work-no pay” principle, which is discriminatory and illegal.
