Human Rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana has warned the Federal Government to stop provoking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The FG following the suspension of ASUU’s eight-month strike decided to pay the lecturers half their salaries for the month of October.
In a statement on Monday, November 7, 2022, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila said the decision to pay half salary to the lecturers was based “on the law and the government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.”
Reacting to the development while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, Falana asked the government to lecturers their full salaries for months they were on strike.
According to him, “The doctrine of ‘no work, no pay is totally inapplicable” to ASUU members.
He said in spite of the strike, lecturers still have to cover the work missed between February and October.
“We are asking all Nigerians who mounted pressure on ASUU to call off the strike . . . all of us have a duty to prevail on the government to stop provoking the lecturers,” Falana said.
Meanwhile, ASUU had faulted the payment of half salary for the month of October, describing it as an attempt to reduce Nigerian scholars to casual workers.
The president of the union, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke said the union deliberated on developments since the suspension of the strike and NEC noted with dismay that paying academics on “pro-rata” basis, like casual workers, is unprecedented in the history of university-oriented labour relations.