The Federal Ministry of Labour has reacted to allegations that it rejected the four-year audit report of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The spokesperson for the labour ministry, Olajide
Oshundun,told our correspondent in an exclusive chat on Friday, that the the
audit report was not received because ASUU shunned a letter by the ministry
demanding explanations on why the report was not submitted at the appropriate
time.
The Federal Government had withheld the November 2022
check-off dues of ASUU members, despite the payment of pro-rata salaries for
the month of November 2022.
The labour ministry’s spokesperson, who confirmed the
development, noted that the decision to withhold the check-off dues was as a
result of the failure of ASUU to make available to the ministry its audit
report.
But while intervening in the matter, the Nigeria Labour
Congress, in a letter to the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, insisted that
ASUU made plans to submit the audit report but it was not received by the
labour ministry.
Speaking with our correspondent as regards the allegations
of the NLC, Oshundun said, “ Yes, it is true the audited report was not
received from them and that was because they didn’t respond to the ministry’s
initial letter, asking them to state the reason
they refused to submit the audited report for four years.
“The ministry’s letter is explicit on this; they refused to
submit their report as and when due and we asked for explanations. The next
thing they did was to quickly submit the report instead of replying us in
written form.
And let it be clear that it was when the ministry wrote and
threatened that their certificate of registration might be withdrawn that they
rushed to submit it.
“What they were expected to have done was to respond to the
letter first and plead with the ministry for late submission of the documents.
Because if the ministry should take it from them just like that, other trade
unions may follow suit and just do things at their own will. Meanwhile there is
a law guiding all of these processes.
“The ministry didn’t request again the documents but only
wrote to get explanations for their failure to do the needful. I can also tell
you the matter is already in court, so any further enquiry is sub judice.”
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