The Federal Government has agreed to pay part of the outstanding arrears owed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) within the week, according to Prof. Ibrahim Tajuddeen Suraj, Chairman of the union’s Bayero University Kano (BUK) chapter.
Prof. Suraj disclosed this during an interview with BBC Hausa on Wednesday, while explaining reasons behind the union’s decision to suspend its two-week warning strike.
He said although the government did not specify a date for the payment of the remaining arrears, the agreement to begin payment this week was one of the outcomes of renewed engagement between the two parties.
“The Federal Government has agreed to pay some of the arrears this week, but no date was mentioned for the rest,” he stated.
The ASUU chairman added that the union suspended the strike after achieving its goal of bringing the Federal Government back to the negotiation table, which had been inactive for a while.
He also noted that ASUU received numerous appeals from different stakeholders across the country, urging the union to shelve the strike and embrace dialogue.
