Federal Government on Wednesday ordered the immediate payment of all outstanding salaries to its workers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) across the country.
The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, made this known while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The meeting was presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
Moro said that the Council had directed the Ministry of Finance to ensure prompt payment of the salaries to the affected staff.
‘’Council concluded that steps should be taken to ensure that Ministries, Parastatals and MDAs where salaries have not been paid that every effort must be made to ensure that salaries are paid.’’
The minister said the council also appealed to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end their industrial action and return to work.
He said the council deliberated on the strike as well as the general overview of the nation’s education sector and expressed worry about the effect of the lecturers’ strike on the polity.
“On issues of national concern, the current impasse between the Academic Union of Nigerian Universities and the Federal Government was considered with some concerns by the Federal Executive Council.
‘’Council took a general overview of what has been happening in the sector (education) and expressed the concern of average Nigerians, stakeholders, parents and students and came to the conclusion that passionate appeal should be made to ASUU to consider the overall interest of Nigeria, in terms of the education of our children, and to see the possibility of using a strike, which has become too incessant in recent times, as a last resort.”
According to him, the Federal Government is not unmindful of the challenges in the education sector which has seen students seeking admission in foreign educational institutions, including neighbouring Benin Republic.
He, however, stressed that government was determined to curb the trend and called on ASUU to reconsider its “usual resort’’ to strike when it had grievances against government.
Moro urged the union to start considering other means of extracting its demands from government as against strike.
