President Bola Tinubu has approved the partial waiver of the “No Work, No Pay” Order instituted against members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who were on strike for a period of 8 months.
This disclosure is contained in a statement titled, ‘President Tinubu approves partial waiver of the no work, no pay order on ASUU members; orders release of four months of withheld salary’ and signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Friday, October 20, 2023.
Ngelale revealed that the waiver “will allow for the previously striking members of ASUU to receive 4 months of salary accruals out of the eight months of salary which was withheld during the eight-month industrial action undertaken by the union.
ASUU members embarked on a strike on February 14, 2022, to press home their demands on the federal government.
Some of the lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalization of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, and adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a preferred payment option instead of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Other demands include payment of promotion arrears and the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement.
The then Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had dragged ASUU to the National Industrial Court, seeking an order of the court to restrain striking lecturers from further continuing with the strike.
The National Industrial Court had in May 2023 upheld the no work no pay rule by the Federal Government in the suit filed against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
However, respite came for the lecturers as Tinubu directed a waiver be granted with a mandatory requirement that the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment must secure a Document of Understanding establishing that this exceptional presidential waiver granted will be the last one to be granted to ASUU and all other Education Sector Unions.
Invoking the Principle of the Presidential Prerogative of Mercy, Ngelale said the president sought to “mitigate the difficulties being felt during the implementation of key economic reforms in the country, as well as his recognition of the faithful implementation of terms which were agreed upon during the deliberations between ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
