FG has debunked the viral report of paying University lecturers half salaries.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that the federal government has denied the allegation that it paid members of the Nigerian Academic Staff Union (ASUU) half their salaries in October.
Mr Olajide Oshundun, Head of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Labor and Employment, said this in a statement he signed in Abuja on Saturday.
Oshundun said the ministry was reacting to reports of alleged selective treatment and payment of half salary to ASUU members.
He described both reports as grossly inaccurate, misleading and brazen distortion of the facts.
He noted that ASUU members were paid their prorated October salary, and not half salary as the media widely reported.
According to him, the pro rata was made because they cannot be paid for work not done.
He also said that the Minister of Labor and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, never ordered the Accountant General of the Federation to pay half the salary of university professors.
Following the Court of Appeal ruling, which upheld the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), requesting ASUU to return to work, the union-management wrote to the Minister informing him that the Strike had been called off.
“The Federal Ministry of Education wrote to Ngige in a similar way and our labour inspectors in several states have also confirmed that they have resumed work.
“So the minister wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, instructing that their salaries be restored.
“They were paid pro rata based on the number of days they worked in October,” he said.
He added that counted from the day they suspended their work stoppage, it was prorated because “they cannot be paid for work not done. Everyone’s hands are tied.”
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