The representatives of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria branch, on Wednesday, declined the directive by the national body of the union to stage a public protest with respect to the sharing formula of the earned allowances.
SSANU branch chairman, Comrade Iliyasu Abdur-Ra’uf-Bello, who chaired a mini congress, stated this in a statement after the meeting at its secretariat in ABU main campus, Samaru, Zaria.
It reads: “We have resolved to write a protest letter to the Federal Government over the disparity in the earned allowance sharing formular as against staging a public protest as directed by the national body.
“As elders we have resolved not to carry placards going round protesting because it will only amount to waste of time and energy.
“Issue of disparity between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the remaining three unions namely SSANU, Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT) is worrisome,” he said
According to Abdur-Ra’uf-Bello, ” ASUU had received N30 billion while the remaining three unions received only N5 billion, lamenting that the figures glaringly reflected an imbalance from the side of government.”
He, however, said that the three unions would remain calm awaiting a positive response from the government with a view to amicably addressing the matter.
“We believe in the ability of government of the day to address this issue and we are hopeful that those fully involved in this matter will look at the disparity and do justice to it.
“By doing justice I mean they will endeavour to close the wide gap already created between the unions in the Nigerian universities,” he pleaded.
The SSANU branch chairman asserted that as matured and highly-educated individuals of the society, they would not engage in anything that was not beneficial to their members.
He assured that very soon a general congress would be conducted to update members on the earned allowance disparity.
