Posted by If the government does not release the salaries that have been withheld from their members, the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have vowed to go on strike.
The unions criticized the government’s reasoning for releasing the four months’ worth of withheld salaries for members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) but failing to do the same for non-academic staff in a joint letter signed on Friday by the general secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, and president of SSANU, Muhammad Ibrahim.
According to information obtained by twiscoloaded, during an industrial action in 2022, the salaries were taken by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The unions clarified that if the money owed was not released, they would no longer guarantee the government industrial peace at colleges.
Prior to this, on February 13, 2024, the unions had sent protest letters to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff, and the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, protesting the non-teaching staff’s exclusion from receiving their outstanding four months’ salary.
“It appears as though the Federal Government is taking our maturity for granted, as we are shocked that two weeks after the letters were sent and received by the appropriate quarters, the Federal Government has remained silent and refused to take any action towards addressing this very sensitive issue.
We would want to reaffirm to the Federal Government, via this medium, that we are under increasing pressure to maintain industrial peace and tranquility, and that we have done everything within our power to achieve this goal.
“As much as we value the Federal Government’s payment to our academic equivalent, we also believe that our members should receive compensation. We are no longer able to guarantee or maintain industrial peace in the university sector, according to the different feelers we are receiving from our members in the universities and inter-university centers.
We have enough patience, so we will not hold the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU accountable should corporate governance and administration in the university sector come to a complete stop. For this reason, we are using this opportunity to urge the Federal Government to act within the next seven days.
Parts of the letter said, “The members of the two Unions may be forced to meet soon to take all lawful and stringent decision on the matter if the Federal Government does not act to positively address this situation and respond to our previous letters to them.”