President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, had accused the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila of deceiving the union to call off the strike.
The House of Representatives has said that the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila never promised the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU payment of arrears.
The intervention by the House had led to the call-off of the eight months strike by the lecturers. While the National Industrial Court had mandated ASUU to suspend the strike, the government also insisted on the no-work-no-pay policy.
However, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, had accused the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila of deceiving the union to call off the strike.
Prof Osodeke who made this known during an interview on Tuesday, said Gbajabiamila failed to keep to the agreement reached with the union.
However, the spokesperson of the House, Ben Kalu, in a statement on Wednesday while responding to the allegation said at “no point did the Speaker of the House of Representatives commit to offset the arrears of salaries owed to union members for the time they were on strike.
"The commitments by the House are reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill, which includes N170 billion to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers and an additional N300 billion in revitalisation funds.”
Kalu, therefore, accused the ASUU President of “bad-faith approach to negotiations”, adding that “his affinity for political brinkmanship are significant reasons the universities were on strike for so long.”