Labour Minister Senator Chris Ngige, has declared that only the National Industrial Court (NIC) can guide the Federal Government on what to do with the withheld eight month salaries of varsity teachers.
The minister, who spoke yesterday in Abuja, stated that the government was awaiting the NIC’s judgment on whether or not to pay the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members’ back pay.
Femi Falana (SAN), an activist lawyer and ASUU’s counsel, encouraged President Muhammadu Buhari to pay the eight wages directly to the academics who went on strike between February and October.
Ngige said: “The matter is in court. We are waiting for the court to call us back. It is part of the substantive issues remitted to the court for pronouncement; whether they can be paid that (eight months withheld salary arrears) or not.
“The court has not called us. It is when the court calls us and we appear that the issue of out of court settlement or alternative dispute resolution will arise.”
According to the minister, he has not met with the leadership of ASUU since the matter was referred to the NIC.
“Only the court can direct resumption of negotiation with the leadership of ASUU,” Dr. Ngige said.
He added that ASUU members have sued his government over the registration of the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) (NAMDA).
The minister further disclosed that the ASUU leadership had hauled him and the trade union registrar before the NIC on plans to revoke the registration certificate given to the union for failing to submit its audited accounts since 2013.
He further stated that the NIC was being asked to decide these two matters.
The minister said: “I have not met with the leadership of the union. It is the court that will direct me to go back and resume negotiation with the union. That is why I told the Speaker of the House of Representatives that I cannot come there to do any negotiation at the National Assembly.
“It will be a neglect of the court ruling. Our people have filed all the issues and we are waiting. Two matters are in court: the registration of CONUA and NAMDA. They took me to court. We have also filed our defence and counterclaim.
“The other matter before the court is the non-rendition of ASUU’s audited account since 2013 to date. The Registrar of Trade Unions wrote them in 2020 and they didn’t render any account that 2020.
“I wrote to them (ASUU) in 2022 and asked them to show cause why a proof of Section 15 of Trade Union Act should not merit them the withdrawal of their certificate or cancellation of their certificate of registration as a trade union.
“ASUU ran to court and asked the court to restraint the Registrar of Trade Unions and Minister of Labour and Employment from ever doing that (withdrawing their certificate of registration).”
ASUU suspended its eight-month strike on October 14. Last week Thursday, the government allegedly paid university lecturers half their salary for the month of October, a development that sparked new concerns about the strike’s suspension.
However, the government refuted the claim that it only paid half salaries in a statement from Mr. Olajide Oshundun, Head of Press and Public Relations at the Ministry of Labor and Productivity.
He claimed that the lecturers received pro-rata pay.
The statement reads: “Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), asking ASUU to go back to work, the leadership of the union wrote to the minister, informing him that they have suspended the strike.
“The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to him in a similar vein and our labour inspectors in various states also confirmed that they have resumed work.
“So, the minister wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, directing that their salaries be restored.
“They were paid in pro-rata to the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day that they suspended their industrial action. Pro-rata was done because you cannot pay them for work not done. Everybody’s hands are tied.”
Ngige revealed to The Nation that the instructors received pay after 15 days of labor.
The ASUU leadership will meet this week to discuss their course of action, it was learned last night.
Falana responded to the situation by claiming that the federal government’s position on the issue was “factually faulty and legally misleading.”
He made the case that since Buhari has overruled the no-work, no-pay principle applied to the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) members, it only makes sense to apply it to ASUU.
Falana pleaded with the President to defy the Labor Minister’s recommendation and give ASUU members their full salary.
The senior advocate said: “The position of the federal government is factually faulty and legally misleading. Since the industrial action was called off, the public universities have adjusted their calendars to ensure that the 2021/2022 academic session is not cancelled. Consequently, students are currently taking lectures or writing examinations that were disrupted during the strike of the ASUU.
“Therefore, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the ASUU strike the doctrine of ‘no work, no pay’ is totally inapplicable as students who were not taught during the strike are currently attending lectures and writing examinations.
“Furthermore, it is public knowledge that the members of NARD embarked on a strike that lasted two months last year. The federal government dragged the striking doctors to the national industrial court which ordered the NARD to call off the strike.
“As soon as the strike was called off, President Muhammadu Buhari jettisoned the ‘no work, no pay’ principle and ordered the payment of the salaries for the two months that the strike lasted.
“On that occasion, the President overruled Dr. Ngige in the interest of industrial harmony in the health sector.
“In the same vein, the ASUU recently called off its eight-month old strike in compliance with the order of the national industrial court and the court of appeal. We are therefore compelled to call on President Buhari should ignore the advice of Dr. Ngige and direct the public universities to pay the full salary of each lecturer from February to October 2022.”
