The Federal Government has commenced the payment of salary arrears to lecturers in the departments of Basic Medical Sciences, Basic Clinical Sciences, and Medicine at certain federal universities.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that lecturers under the umbrella of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have, however, been left out of this payment.
The lecturers benefiting from the latest tranche of payment are affiliated with the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics, which is one of the two splinter groups authorised by the government to counterbalance the influence of ASUU.
Following a strike by ASUU in 2022, the government implemented a no-work-no-pay policy, resulting in lecturers having their salaries withheld for a period of seven months. Despite efforts to convince the government to release the withheld salaries, ASUU lecturers have yet to receive their dues.
However, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, representing medical doctors in academia and other consultant doctors, successfully argued that medical schools remained operational during the strike period, thereby justifying the payment of salaries to their members.
A source from Nnamdi Azikiwe University confirmed that medical lecturers have started receiving their withheld salaries, leading to confusion among other lecturers who are yet to be compensated, The Punch reports.
The source stated, “Other lecturers have not [received their salaries] but we have been told to stay calm.”
Similarly, a medical lecturer from the University of Maiduguri affirmed the news, saying, “It is true, medical lecturers who worked during the time of the strike have started receiving theirs.”
While not all medical lecturers have received their payments, the chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, confirmed that medical lecturers at Nnamdi Azikiwe University have indeed been paid.
