The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is preparing to sue the federal government over its refusal to pay its members’ full salaries.
However, in a recent interview, the union’s president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, said he is dissatisfied with the slow delivery of justice in Nigerian courts, and that going to court is a waste of time.
Osodeke said, “When we get there, we will let you know, but legal issue in Nigeria is time-wasting. The next 10 years, you will be there, 20 years. So, when we get there we will let you know.”
Meanwhile, some union members have expressed their displeasure with the non-work-no-pay policy and have expressed the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the federal government.
In response to this development, the union’s zonal coordinator in Abuja, Dr Salahu Lawal, says the federal government has no choice but to pay its members’ unpaid salaries for the eight months the union was on strike, according to The Nigerian Tribune.
He said: “For now we are still dialoguing with the Federal Government to let them see the reasons why they must pay that money. They claimed that we cannot be paid for the work not done, but they have forgotten that in academic activities, there is no break.
“Wherever you stopped during the strike when you resume, you take off from that place because you cannot jump to another level. So, the work we left undone has to be done and because of that we deserve to be paid. There’s nothing they can do, government has to pay that money.”
