SSANU, NASU Declare Seven-day Warning Strike Over Four Months Withheld Salaries

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) 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 its 47th NEC meeting held in the Federal University of Technology, Akure,(FUTA), Ondo State capital on Saturday and Sunday.

Recall that the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions had warned that there will no longer be industrial peace in universities unless the federal government releases their withheld salaries.

The two bodies lamented that the government had paid the withheld salaries to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) but had failed to do the same for non-academic staff.

The salaries of the two unions were seized by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari during their strike in 2022.

The unions, in a joint letter signed by the President of SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, stated that they had earlier written protest letters to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, on February 13, 2024, over the exclusion of the non-teaching staff from the payment of outstanding four months salaries.

“We are therefore shocked that two weeks after the letters had been sent and received by the appropriate quarters, the federal government has remained quiet and refused to take any step towards addressing this very sensitive issue and it seems as if the federal government is taking our maturity for granted.

“We like to confirm through this medium once again to the federal government that the pressure on us has intensified and we have done everything possible within our ambit to prevail on our members to maintain industrial peace and tranquility.

“While we appreciate the federal government for paying our academic counterpart, we also deem it necessary that our members are also paid. The various feelers we are getting from our members in the universities and inter-university centres indicate that we can no longer guarantee and be able to sustain industrial peace in the university sector,” the letter had said.

The non-academic staff had given the federal government seven days to do the needful, adding that they will not be held responsible should the wheel of administration and corporate governance be grounded to a halt in the university sector.

“If nothing is done by the Federal Government to positively address this situation and respond to our previous letters to them, the members of the two Unions may be forced to meet soon to take all lawful and stringent decisions on the matter,” the letter had read.

Speaking to journalists after its NEC Meeting on Sunday, the SSANU President, Comrade Ibrahim stated that its members voted unanimously for a seven day strike after the federal government their call.

He added that the strike action will be followed immediately with an indefinite strike if the government remains adamant.

Ibrahim disclosed that the seven-day warning strike will commence March 18, 2024.