N40 billion earned allowances released to ASUU Says Ngige

President Muhammadu Buhari waived the ‘no work, no pay’ Trade Act for striking university lecturers to allow peace to reign, Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige, said at the weekend.

The government has released N40billion for the payment of earned academic allowances for varsity lecturers and earned allowances for non-academic staff.

Also, the government may release N30 billion revitalisation funds to varsities by the end of this month.

Of the N40 billion, about N10 billion was voted for the payment of earned allowances of members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SANU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and technologists.

Although the non-academic staff have threatened strike over the sharing formula by the National Universities Commission (NUC), the government said when a similar payment was made in 2019, they got N8 billion.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who gave the update in an exclusive chat with our correspondent, said the Federal Government has so far kept faith with the agreement between it and ASUU.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment

He said: “We are keeping faith religiously with the implementation of the agreement.

In fact, President Muhammadu Buhari has given ASUU members a waiver/ pardon on the no, work, no pay clause in the nation’s Trade Disputes Act.

“I had to write officially for the presidential waiver on payment of outstanding wages of varsity lecturers to strengthen our pact and more so we are in a COVID-19 pandemic era.