The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has indicated that the Federal Government may not fully pay university lecturers for the eighth months that the Academic Staff Union of Universities was on strike.
Gbajabiamila, in a statement issued on Monday, said the President Buhari was being awaited to approved the proposal of “partial” payment presented to him.
Titled, ‘Statement by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila on the Resolution of Outstanding Issues between the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria,’ it read, “When the Academic Staff Union of Universities called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities, and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption. This decision was rightly heralded nationwide as the correct decision.
“Since then, the Executive and the House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike. We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes the sum of N170,000,000,000 to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers. The bill also includes additional N300,000,000,000 in revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.