By Adedapo Adesanya
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the immediate payment of withheld February and March 2020 salaries of lecturers in federal universities.
Business Post had earlier reported that the federal government was holding salaries of the university dons for failure to registered for the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS) platform.
This had led to a back and forth between the Association of the Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and federal government.
Now, the federal government is making a U-Turn from its earlier decision, directing that the withheld funds be released to the beneficiaries, according to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige.
In the statement released through his media aide, Mr Emmanuel Nzomiwu, the minister said the President also directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) to effect the payment urgently.
He stated that this was being done to cushion the difficult effects of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period on lecturers and members of their families.
The Labour Minister added that all the Vice-Chancellors were asked to revalidate the affected lecturers’ Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and forward to the Accountant General of the Federation for the payments.
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Aduragbemi Omiyale