The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) have announced a 7-day warning strike, starting March 18, 2024. This decision comes as a result of the non-payment of four months’ salaries withheld from their members after the 2022 nationwide strike.
The joint action committee of the two unions reached this decision after a meeting held in Akure over the weekend. Despite numerous protest letters and communications with the Federal Government, the payment of the withheld salaries has not been resolved, leading to this drastic action.
According to Mohammed Ibrahim, the president of SSANU, who read the communiqué to journalists in Abuja on Monday, the decision to strike was taken as a last resort. He expressed disappointment in the government’s failure to address the issue, stating, “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.”
President Bola Tinubu had previously directed the payment of the withheld salaries for university workers as a result of the 2022 strike. However, SSANU, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) claim they are yet to receive their salaries for the said period despite the directive.
In a recent interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the SSANU chief accused the government of abandoning the unions, stating, “We have to speak like this because we have been clearly shown that we do not matter in the system.”
SSANU and NASU emphasized that they have done everything within their powers to maintain industrial peace and tranquility. However, they warned that they could no longer guarantee industrial harmony on the campuses if the government fails to pay them.
The unions expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for paying their academic counterparts but stressed the importance of also paying their members. They noted that non-teaching staff play a crucial role in the functioning of universities and should not be neglected.
SSANU and NASU have called on their members to prepare for the warning strike and urged the government to address their grievances promptly to avoid further disruptions in the education sector.
