This was in reaction to the seven-day warning strike that SSANU/NASU began on Monday.
The Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU had for about a month called the attention of the government to its exclusion from the payment of the withheld salaries which it commenced payment for the Academic Staff Union of Universities in February.
Their salaries were withheld when the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against the Academic Staff Union of Universities and SSANU who embarked on a strike that lasted eight months and four months in 2022 respectively.
A statement signed by Ajaero on Monday read, “We join our affiliate unions, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, in demanding the immediate payment of the withheld salaries of their members.
“There has been no credible reason or explanation for withholding those salaries in the first place.
We recall this singular act plunged the members into indescribable hardship.
“Much worse, it defies logic to try to subject members of these unions to discriminatory treatment. By so doing, the government is clearly courting avoidable industrial disputes. At a time when confidence is being restored to the public universities, the least the government could do is not engineer another strike.
“The toll on all the parties will be unacceptably high, especially for students and parents who bear the burden of movement on our dangerous roads. In light of this, we urge the government to expeditiously pay up the outstandings. We advise the government not to take for granted the maturity of these unions.”
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