The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has approved a one-week nationwide warning strike to protest what it described as a ‘selective payment’ of parts of the university workers’ withheld salaries.
Last week, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) issued a one-week ultimatum for the government to pay its members.
At the end of the ultimatum, SSANU’s NEC approved a warning strike at its meeting held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).
“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 statement reads in part.
The National Vice President of the union, Adbulsalam Abdussobuur, also said Monday that SSANU declared the strike and awaits its NASU counterpart to hold its NEC meeting to decide before JAC would announce the commencement of the strike.
SSANU and NASU’s major demand is the payment of their members’ withheld salaries during the prolonged strike in 2022. Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have been paid four months of the withheld salaries as directed by President Bola Tinubu, a development both SSANU and NASU described as unfair and selective.
In 2022, two months after ASUU commenced a nationwide strike, both SSANU and NASU embarked on nationwide industrial action.
The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) also took part in the strike at the time.
(Premium Times)
