ASUU suspends its protest over salaries

 Yesterday, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU, decided against starting another round of industrial action in response to the Federal Government withholding their eight months' salary and instead chose to maintain their widespread protest.

After a protracted National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, a decision was made. According to a source, the group also decided to keep engaging stakeholders to find a resolution to the union and government's ongoing dispute.

“The National President will officially come out with the communique of the meeting. But we considered reports from branches regarding our nationwide protests and we are glad about what we got. It was agreed that the protests should continue, we need to let Nigerian people see that we have given the government a long rope.

“Some prominent Nigerians and different groups have been on the matter. Seeking the way out, we also want to give the people more time to intervene too. At least at the end of the day, if we are pushed to the wall, whatever we decide to do, everybody will see that we have tried and endured enough,” the source said.

Numerous individuals, including Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, spoke up, and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja ordered the union to call off the strike before it continued to hear the case.

Recall that the government only paid the lecturers half their salaries for October and their full salaries for November when the union ended its eight-month strike on October 14.

The government has repeatedly stated that it will not pay them for the eight months that they did not work; this is a claim that the union has been fighting.