The Federal Government has commenced the payment of the withheld salaries of academics under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, PUNCH Online has learnt.

Multiple sources in the academic sector confirmed the development to our correspondent in Abuja on Monday.

The chairperson of ASUU at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Gbolahan Bolarin, who confirmed the development on the record, said, “Yes, it is true. Payment has started rolling in.”

President Bola Tinubu Tinubu had in October 2023 approved the release of four of the eight months’ ASUU withheld workers’ salaries.

The salaries were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against some university-based unions that embarked on a strike that lasted eight months in 2022.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, recently said the government has increased the university workers’ salaries by 35 per cent.

The minister also said the government has granted autonomy to the universities by removing them from the Integrated Payment and Payroll Information System.

He added that the universities no longer need a waiver to recruit and fill vacancies.

These resolutions were reached through informal consultations with the unions based in the tertiary institutions, Mamman said