The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said it would not end the strike it embarked on until government paid all the salaries of its members it withheld .

The President of ASUU , Prof . Biodun Ogunyemi , in a telephone interview with news correspondent in Lagos , said government should not expect the lecturers to resume without paying the withheld salaries .

Recall that there were reports on November 27 that the union had agreed to end its strike following the Federal Government’ s promise to release N70 bn to ASUU as earned allowance .

But Ogunyemi explained that the members were still consulting and at the same time waiting for the government to fulfil its promise of releasing members’ withheld salaries .

“ We are still consulting ; we have not finished consultation, by the end of this week we shall make our report public . There are promises government made with dates. Government promised to release salaries of our members . The withheld salaries have not been paid and we need to have information on that . Government should not expect us to resume without releasing our salaries . ”

He emphasised that once the timeline expired this week without the salaries being paid, the union would take a final decision .

Ogunyemi also said that he could not determine when ASUU would suspend the strike .

“ I can ’ t vouch for anything about resumption, but my members will determine that . The only thing I know is that payment of withheld salaries can smoothen the process and that is what we have told the government . It will aid the final decision .

“ The government gave a timeline and we are monitoring , once the timeline expires this week, our members will take a final decision. If they pay the withheld salaries , it will make the process easier to handle . ”

Punch