The Federal Ministry of Labor has reacted to accusations that it rejected the four-year audit report of the Union of Academic Staff of Universities.
Labor Ministry spokesman Olajide Oshundun told our correspondent in an exclusive chat on Friday that the audit report was not received because ASUU rejected a letter from the ministry demanding explanations as to why the report was not submitted at the time. suitable.
the punch had exclusively reported that the Federal Government had withheld the November 2022 discount dues from ASUU members, despite the payment of prorated salaries for the month of November 2022.
The labor ministry spokesperson, who confirmed the development, said the decision to withhold the relief quotas was due to ASUU’s failure to make its audit report available to the ministry.
But weighing in on the matter, the Nigerian Labor Congress, in a letter to Labor Minister Chris Ngige, insisted that ASUU made plans to submit the audit report, but it was not received by the Labor Ministry.
Speaking to our correspondent regarding the NLC’s allegations, Oshundun said: “Yes, it is true that the audited report from them was not received and that was because they did not reply to the initial letter from the ministry, asking them to state the reason. they refused to submit the audited report for four years.
“The letter from the ministry is explicit in this regard; They refused to present their report on the date and in the manner and we asked for explanations. The next thing they did was quickly send the report instead of responding to us in writing.
And let it be clear that it was when the ministry wrote and threatened to withdraw the registration certificate that they rushed to present it.
“What they were expected to do was respond to the letter first and plead with the ministry for the late submission of the documents. Because if the ministry were to take it away like that, other unions could do the same and do things of their own free will. Meanwhile, there is a law that guides all these processes.
“The ministry did not request the documents again, but only wrote to obtain explanations for not having done what was necessary. I can also tell you that the matter is already in court, so any further investigation is sub judice.”
