SSANU and NASU Threaten Indefinite Action as Union Strike Comes to an End
If the Federal Government fails to meet the demands of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), they have issued a threat to initiate an indefinite strike.
SSANU and NASU, in collaboration with their Joint Action Committee (JAC), initiated a seven-day warning strike as a means of expressing their disapproval of the practice of withholding paychecks from their academic colleagues.
According to a joint statement issued by SSANU president Mohammed Ibrahim and NASU secretary Peters Adeyemi, the unions have expressed their intention to convene a meeting with members in order to deliberate on the subsequent course of action, which may potentially lead to a complete cessation of university operations.
During his address at a meeting convened by the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN), Ibrahim expressed that the unions had not received any favourable reaction from the government about their demands.
“We will go back to our members for discussion, I hate to say and with a very heavy heart, if it means shutting down the system again, once our organs sanction it, we will do it. This time around, it will be like never before,” Ibrahim said.
According to Ibeji Nwokema, the President of the National Association of Teachers (NAAT), despite their meetings with the education minister, Prof Tahir Mamman, and the minister of state in the ministry, Yusuf Sununu, as well as other government officials, no resolution was achieved.
According to him, the minister only implored the unions to halt the strike, assuring them that he would respond quickly to their requests.
According to Ibrahim, his union expressed their insistence at the discussion that the minister should provide a precise schedule for the demands to be addressed in the event that the strike is to be temporarily halted.
“Nothing was achieved at the meeting except the optimism that something would be done. But as far as we are concerned, we have not seen the money and payments have not been made,” he added.
Nwokema stated that his union chose to engage in a peaceful demonstration and a three-day advance notice strike, with the expectation that the government will comply with their requests.
According to his statement, the union expresses dissatisfaction with the government’s selective choice regarding the release of the partial payment of withheld salary.
According to him, his members’ optimistic expectations regarding President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to reimburse them for four months of their delayed salary were shattered by the government’s choice to disregard them.
He said: “At the stakeholder’s meeting, the minister of education was present, the acting executive secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) was present, and all the vice-chancellors and unions were present. The minister said clearly at the meeting that the payment would cut across board, the selective payment must have been deliberate to cause disharmony and destabilise the university system.”
In the interim, the House of Representatives Committee on University Education has issued a request for a meeting among stakeholders, including the unions that have been dissatisfied, the Ministry of Education, and the National University Commission (NUC).
The committee voiced apprehension regarding the adverse ramifications of the strike, characterising it as detrimental to the sector.
SSANU and NASU Threaten Indefinite Action as Union Strike Comes to an End
