The federal government has refuted claims that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities were paid half salaries for the month of October.

A statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour, Olajide Oshundun said the lecturers were paid proportionally because they cannot be paid for work not down.

According to the statement, the ASUU members were paid in pro-rata to the number of days that they worked in October, counting from the day they suspended their industrial action.

The Ministry also faulted a statement by the chairperson of ASUU, Usman Danfodiyo University Sokoto branch, Muhammad Al-Mustapha, accusing Ngige of biased payment of salaries to selected professional members of the union.