Half salary: FG provoking lecturers – Falana

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana on Tuesday asked the Federal Government to stop provoking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in a dispute over wages.

Falana, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said the lecturers should be paid their full salaries for months they were on a strike action.

ASUU members were on strike between February and October, crippling academic activities in public universities across the country.

The academics called off their eight-month strike on October 14 after the National Industrial Court ordered the lecturers to resume.

In early November, the Federal Government paid half-salaries for the month of October, angering the academics.

“The doctrine of ‘no work, no pay’ is totally inapplicable to” ASUU members, Mr Falana, a counsel to ASUU, said on Tuesday.

He argued that the lecturers still have to cover the work missed between February and October.

“We are asking all Nigerians who mounted pressure on ASUU to call off the strike . . . all of us have a duty to prevail on the government to stop provoking the lecturers,” Mr Falana said.