The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union, on Monday, declared a seven-day warning strike.
The unions said the declaration was made to demand the payment of four months of withheld salaries of their members by the Federal Government after the 2022 nationwide strike.
This followed the resolution of the joint action committee of the two unions after a meeting held in Akure, Ondo State capital on Thursday and Friday.
These were contained in a communique signed by the National President, SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, and made available to our correspondents on Monday.
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In 2022, two months after ASUU commenced a nationwide strike, both SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions also embarked on nationwide industrial action.
The action was to protest the government’s failure to fulfill its promises to the workers.
SSANU queried the rationale behind the government’s insistence on the ‘no work, no pay policy,’ saying that due process was followed before embarking on the strike that lasted four months.
Till he left office, President Muhammadu Buhari seized the salaries of the workers.
However, in October last year, President Bola Tinubu announced that his government would pay four months of the withheld salaries to members of ASUU, immediately raising concerns as to the fate of the members of the other unions.
A few weeks ago, the Nigerian government began paying the academics, leaving out the non-academic staff.
On February 13, 2024, SSANU and NASU wrote protest letters to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, over the exclusion of the non-teaching staff from the payment of outstanding four months’ salaries.
However, on March 1, 2024, the unions threatened to disrupt industrial peace in universities should the government fail to release the withheld salaries of members.
The unions in the communique frowned at the latest action of the government, which excluded SSANU and other non-teaching university-based unions from the payment of the four months withheld salaries arising from the nationwide strike action embarked upon by all unions in our public Universities.
The communique read in part, “While SSANU is not averse to the payment of the withheld salary to our sister union ASUU, it, however, views this action as a clear violation and breach of the post-strike agreement with the government on non-victimisation of our members who participated in the strike.
“We strongly oppose this discriminatory practice, which we view as the government’s open invitation to industrial crisis. Credible information available to us has it that the directive of Mr. President is for all university-based unions to be paid four months’ salary.
“NEC suspects saboteurs in this government bent on destabilising and destroying Mr. President’s good intent to sustain industrial peace in the University system.
“NEC in session, therefore, calls on the relevant authorities of the Government to immediately implement the directive of Mr. President by paying our members the four months withheld salaries, failing which NEC has approved a one-week warning strike in conjunction with our sister Union in JAC, NASU.”
