The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to meet the demand of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to pay their backlog of salaries if he is elected president.

Though the union embarked on an eight-month strike which ended in October, it has since been at loggerheads with the Federal Government over unpaid salaries, arguing that its members will make up for the lost time in the classroom.

However, Atiku assured the academics of clearing the backlog during his appearance at The People’s Townhall organized in Abuja on Saturday.

“I’m going to increase the funding level (of education) as against what is currently obtained, no doubt about that because I am a firm and committed believer in education.

“I have undertaken to say, ‘Whatever backlog – we are going to clear all the backlogs and make sure that you go back to classes and students go back to school,” he said.