The Federal Government has initiated the payment of withheld salaries to academics belonging to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), according to multiple sources within the academic sector in Abuja on Monday.

Confirming the development on the record, Prof. Gbolahan Bolarin, the chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, stated, “Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in.”

The decision to release the salaries comes after President Bola Tinubu approved the release of four out of the eight months’ worth of withheld salaries for ASUU members in October 2023. 

These salaries were withheld during the implementation of the ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ by the former administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, in response to an eight-month strike by university-based unions in 2022.

Furthermore, Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, recently announced that the government had increased salaries for university workers by 35% and granted autonomy to universities by removing them from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). 

Mamman stated that universities no longer require waivers to recruit and fill vacancies, and these decisions were reached through informal consultations with unions in tertiary institutions.