The ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) may come to an end soon.
This comes after the Federal Government confirmed it has commenced the payment of minimum wage arrears, which it owed lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Academic Staff Union of Universities as part of efforts to end ongoing strikes by the unions, Punch has reported.
This was confirmed by union heads in a separate interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has repeatedly embarked on warning strikes to protest the incumbent government’s failure to meet its demands.
On May 9, 2022, the varsity union further extended the lingering strike for another 12 weeks.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement, said the extension was to give the federal government enough time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues.
Subsequently, on May 11, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) also declared a 2-week warning strike.
ASUP in its statement said the federal government has refused to meet its demand.
Some of the demands include the non-release of the approved revitalization fund for the sector, Approved N15bn, yet to be released 11 months after approval by the President.
Giving an update on the strike actions by the unions, ASUP President Dr Anderson Ezeibe, and the Chairman, ASUU Federal University of Technology, Minna, Dr Gbolahan Bolarin, told newsmen at separate interviews in Abuja on Thursday that lecturers have started receiving payment from the government.
Ezeibe, however, said that the arrear payment is just the beginning.
He said, “The government has started responding. They just started paying the salary/minimum wage arrears, the one they have refused to pay.
“However, that is just one of the demands, so we have not reached anywhere. They have not attended to the others, but I can confirm that people have started receiving alerts of the arrears owed.”
