Nigerian lawyer and human right activist, Femi Falana (SAN) Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has contradicted the law by facilitating the withheld payment of some lecturers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK).
The ongoing administration delayed lectures salaries as a result of the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) eight-month nationwide strike which occured last year, Ngige requested that the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, refund the salary that has been withheld from two hundred and four (204) lecturers at the UNIZIK medical faculties, claiming that they did not join other members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to go on the strike in 2022.
Femi Falana, the ASUU lawyer, was not pleased with this saying, he claimed that the minister’s behaviour was illegal, saying that all UNIZIK lecturers participated in the eight-month strike last year.
Falana said, “Dr Ngige has convinced the federal government not to pay ASUU members for embarking on strike in 2022. But he has decided to isolate his colleagues in his home state for special favour by causing their salaries to be paid for the period of the same strike.
“Dr Ngige took similar action when members of the National Association of Resident Doctors embarked on strike in 2021. The federal government paid the salaries of the resident doctors for the period of their strike.
“The actions of the minister run contrary to the provision of Section 42(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap A9, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which have prohibited any form of discrimination in the application of the law or policy of the government,”