The Federal Government has approved the payment of the 8-month withheld salaries of members of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) following threats by the union to drag the government to court.

According to reports, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation has requested the bank account details of the union members for payment of the salary arrears.

Recall that CONUA, a rival union of ASUU had in December 2022, maintained that its members did not part take in the 8-month industrial action by universities lecturers, which grounded academic activities in public universities campuses across the country.

After the suspension of the strike by ASUU, the government insisted that it was not going to pay the striking lecturers for work not done. However, CONUA threatened legal actions against the government saying the ‘No Work No Pay’ principle ought not to apply to members of the union.

It has now been gathered that the federal government through the AGF, sent a circular to the president of CONUA on January 13, with respect to payment of the withheld backlog of salaries and requested that the union provides a soft copy of membership of CONUA across universities to enable payment.