University workers in Nigeria have over time complained of how they have been relegated and their demands ignored by the government. They not only lamented about their welfare, but they also made it a point of duty to tell the world how the government has neglected the development, renovation, and or provision of infrastructure in Nigerian universities.
Over the years, the university unions always deplored the use of protests at different times to agitate for their demands which many times the Federal Government refused to fulfill.
These unions include the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities.
They all went on strike in 2022, to make their grievances known to the government. Unfortunately, the FG didn’t respond to their demands after which, they were forced to end the strike with the threat of no work and no pay.
ASUU went on a seven-and-a-half-month strike while SSANU/NASU held for four months but their salaries were withheld for the period of the strike.
Some of the demands highlighted by ASUU as being unimplemented by the FG were the renegotiation of FGN/ASUU 2009 Agreement, unpaid Arrears of Earned Academic Allowance, removal from Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, Public Universities and the Treasury Single Account, and proliferation of universities.
The issue of withheld salaries was prominent on the list, however, the FG in the last week of February started to pay ASUU members alone.
SSANU/NASU members were not paid.
As such, President, SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, SSANU wrote protest letters to the Chief of Staff to the President and the Minister of Education on 13th February 2024 over the exclusion of the Non-Teaching staff from the payment of outstanding four months’ salaries.
He revealed that two weeks after the letters had been sent and received by the appropriate quarters, the Federal Government remained quiet and refused to take any step towards addressing this very sensitive issue.
“We, therefore, use this opportunity once again to call on the Federal Government to do the needful within the next seven days as the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU should not be held responsible should the wheel of administration and corporate governance be grounded to a halt in the University sector, as we have exercised enough patience. 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.
