The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to pay the four months withheld salaries of their members.
The unions vowed to shut universities and inter-university centres if the government failed to pay the withheld salaries at the expiration of the ultimatum.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, SSANU and NASU accused the government of neglect and insincerity.
The letter, titled ‘Re-Four months withheld salaries: Demand for immediate payment’, was by NASU General Secretary, Prince Peters Adeyemi, and SSANU President Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim.
The unions said they can no longer guarantee industrial harmony in the universities if the withheld salaries are not paid.
The letter reads: “The minister would recall that the Joint Action Committee of NASU and SSANU embarked on a one-week warning strike between 18 and 24 March to protest the denial of the four months’ salary arrears withheld between May and 24 August 2022.
“Following a series of letters and the assurances of payment, we write to remind the minister of our various letters, engagements and assurances towards the payment. We express our regrets and dismay that till date, the withheld salaries have not been paid to our members.
“We view it as an act of insincerity and neglect on the part of the government to the yearnings and aspirations of our members.
“The deafening silence of government and failure to pay the withheld salaries is creating a high level of agitations and contentions among our members in the universities and inter-university Centres, such that we can no longer guarantee industrial peace and harmony on our university campuses.
“We, therefore, demand the immediate payment of the four months withheld salaries to our members not later than two weeks from the date of this correspondence, failing which we will be left with no option than to shut down the universities and inter-university centres”.
Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Benin Zone, yesterday, said that the Federal Government’s failure to satisfactorily resolve ASUU’s demands was an invitation to the impending paralysis in public universities.
The union added that the lack of sincerity on the part of the federal and state governments to address the issues worsened the living and working conditions of academic staff members in public universities.
Briefing newsmen on the contending issues between ASUU and the government, Zonal Coordinator, ASUU, Benin zone, Prof. Monday Igbafen, urged the public, especially stakeholders of the Nigerian university system, “to hold the Nigerian government responsible if we proceed on strike any moment from now”.
Igbafen said that the government’s action to ignore ASUU on the contending issues confirmed the fact that the government is not moved by several calls and efforts the union has made to get it attended to.
“While the Federal Government has hastily reconstituted controversial Governing Councils of federal universities after 11 months of their illegal dissolution, some state governments have remained adamant to the contrary. The absence of Governing Councils in the universities has led to unthinkable aberrations in the universities with the introduction of obnoxious policies that are antithetical to university culture”.
Igbafen added that the unresolved issues include the stalled renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, and funding for the revitalisation of public universities based on the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2021, 2013 and 2017, among others.
