The federal government has insisted that it will not pay the backlog of salaries owned the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing strike, saying it will serve as penalty for their needless action.
The minister of education, Adamu Adamu disclosed this while appearing at the ministerial media briefing organised by the presidential communications team at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Thursday.
Adamu Adamu stated that not paying the backlog of salaries will discourage others who may contemplate going on strike in the nearest future.
He said, despite the strike by the university-based unions, the federal government had expended trillions of naira on education directly as well as by agencies such as: TEFFUND and UBEC.
The minister said ” All contentious issues between the government and ASUU had been settled except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of strike to be paid, a demand that Buhari has flatly rejected,”
Adamu also opined that five of the six striking university-based unions may likely resume work within the next one week while ASUU’s may embark on consultations whether to call of the strike now or later.
According to the Minister of Education, the Federal Government rejected ASUU’s demand to be paid the backlog of emoluments for the past five months because it believes that there should be penalties for their actions.
