Mr Gbajabiamila said the interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said interventions to 'explore the partial payment' of salaries to lecturers in public universities are underway.
The interventions are being considered by President Muhammadu Buhari, he said in a statement on Monday.
He said the executive arm of government insists it is not obligated to pay the lecturers for the period the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was on strike.
Mr Gbajajabiamila said the move was premised on the government's desire to prevent future disruptive industrial actions in public universities.
"Nonetheless, interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers," he said. "We look forward to a favourable consideration by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR who has manifested his desire to what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues."
The highest decision body of ASUU, its National Executive Council (NEC), is meeting on Monday to decide on its next action following the payment of 'incomplete' October salaries to its members.
The government said it paid the lecturers salaries only for the period for which they worked beginning from 14th October when the union suspended its eight-month strike.
The Congress of University Academics (CONUA), another academic union which has always distanced itself from the strike, said it was illegal for the government to withhold its members' eight-month salaries and the partial payment for October.
CONUA said its members were never on strike and were only unable to carry out their 'full' responsibilities due to the closure of the universities by the administrators.
Promises
Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, Mr Gbajabiamila appealed to the lecturers to exercise patience as "meaningful change takes time, especially when appropriations and modifications to systems such as IPPIS are required."
He said the house, through the supervision of its Chairman of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Aminu Suleiman, is facilitating the integration of University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which ASUU rejected for not accommodating the autonomous nature of the universities.
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He added that the House is working on the 2023 Budget which has dedicated N170 billion for university workers' welfare and N300 billion for revitalisation funds in the universities.
The speaker, therefore, called for the prevention of the recurrence of the recently suspended industrial action, "as these disruptions risk the promise and potential of our nation's youth."
He added that his office has called for a conversation on reforms required in Nigeria's tertiary institutions, hoping that the conversation would lead to a way forward and prevent the incessant strike being experienced.
"Three weeks ago, I called for a national conversation on the substantive reforms required to address the underlying issues bedevilling public tertiary education in Nigeria. To that end, the House of Representatives is convening a National Summit on Tertiary Education Reform. We have called for papers and memoranda from members of the public. The submissions we receive and expert presentations at the Summit will inform our policy recommendations and actions. I urge all citizens and stakeholders to participate in this crucial effort to reinvent our public tertiary institutions into respected citadels of learning," he said.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
