The National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has declared that the University Lecturers will not make up for the lost time; in terms of teaching, conducting exams and other academic activities; if the Federal Government fails to pay their salary arrears (Punch).
Osodeke, who spoke recently while reacting to the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu’s statement that the government would not pay the backlog of salaries of the lecturers, which had been withheld due to the strike, declared; “If they fail to pay, we will not teach those students. We will not make up for that period”. Going further, Osodeke noted; “If they want to do no work no pay, we will also do no pay no work. If they won’t pay the backlog, we won’t teach the backlog. We are not like other worker”.
According to the ASUU President, instead of trying to make up for the lost period, the university lecturers, will start a fresh academic session (2022/2023), if the government decides to implement the no work no pay policy. The question, however, is; will the FG eventually give in to this demand for the backlog salaries? Going by what the Minister of Education said recently, this disagreement may likely not go away anytime soon.