The federal government has insisted that it will not concede to the demand by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to be paid the backlog of salaries withheld during the ongoing strike.

It described the no-work-no-pay policy as the only hindrance in the FG-ASUU negotiations.

The Minister of Education,  Adamu Adamu, stated this at the 47th session of the State House Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

“All contentious issues between the government and ASUU had been settled except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of strike to be paid, a demand that Buhari has flatly rejected,” Adamu explained.

He argued that ASUU went on strike despite the Buhari regime and agencies such as TETFUND and UBEC directly investing trillions of naira in education.

Adamu also disclosed that five of the six striking university-based unions will likely return to work within the next one week, whereas ASUU’s remains uncertain.

According to him, the FG rejected ASUU’s demand to be paid the backlog of emoluments for the past five months because it believes that there should be penalties for their actions.