No university lecturer has been paid since February, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said yesterday.

Its President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, accused the Federal Government of using hunger as a tool to force the striking lecturers back to work. He spoke while featuring on Channels Sunrise Daily.

ASUU embarked on strike on February 14 over the alleged failure of the Federal Government to fully implement the Memorandum of Action signed in 2020.

On March 27, the government invoked the ‘no work, no pay’ policy in line with Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act.

Osodeke said: “Our salaries have been withheld. This is the sixth month our salaries have been withheld.

“They thought that if they hold our salaries for two or three months we will come begging and say ‘please allow us to go back to work’.

According to him, the Federal Government was wrong in thinking that depriving the lecturers of their salaries would force them back to the classrooms.

Osodeke said the government’s strong-arm tactic would not work.