The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has called on the regime of president Muhammadu Buhari to pay the “withheld salaries” of its members.

The union said it was “unfair” that prorated salaries were paid in October while demanding that the government pay salaries owed from March to September to its members because they never participated in the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

In a statement issued by the national coordinator of CONUA, Niyi Sunmonu, the group asserted that the federal government should pay its members.

“Congress of University Academics, CONUA, hereby calls on the Federal Government to, without delay, pay members of the union withheld salaries,” Mr Sunmonu said.

“As a union, we have stated several times that we were not part of the strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities,” he added.

Mr Sunmonu said the union has clarified its stance with the federal government that they “were not on strike and, this being the case, the issue of no work no pay ought not apply to our members.”

“We first made this fact clear in a letter we addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment in April 2022. And, at a press conference we addressed in Abuja on August 19, 2022, we also stated categorically that, as a union, we were not on strike, and, this being the case, the issue of no work no pay ought not apply to our members.

“Given the above, CONUA considers it unfair that the salaries paid to members of the union was done pro-rata. What ought actually to have been done, and which we now call on the government to do, is to pay the backlog of our salaries from March to September (2022), in addition to what was cut off from our October salaries. We expect government to act on the demand immediately,” Mr Sunmonu said. 

However, members of ASUU-NEC are still deliberating on their decision regarding the prorated salaries paid to lecturers by the federal government in October.

Chris Ngige, the minister of labour said that prorated salaries were paid to the lecturers because they can only get allowances for the “number of days that they’ve worked in October.”

Following the development, ASUU-Unijos declared an indefinite sit at home order to its members pending the payment of their full salaries by the federal government.