The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) on Tuesday have began protest in their branches nationwide, seeking for the payment of their four months salary arrears the Federal Government owned members.
It would be recall that both unions had planned the protest to press for the payment of the salary arrears.
The protest which kicked off in Gwagwalada Area council of the FCT today, the association demanded for their four months salary, noting that some of their members have died during the time of review and the university system in Nigeria, which is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that education is given to all our children have been abandoned.
According to him, the Federal Government has failed to address the demands of the unions following their warning strike some months back.
“We, therefore, demand the immediate payment of the four (4) months withheld salaries to our members not later than two (2) weeks from the date of this correspondence; failing which we will be left with no option but to shut down the Universities and Inter-University Centres,” part of a letter signed by the NASU General Secretary Peters Adeyemi and SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim read
He said the unions are demanding the immediate release of the withheld salaries, alongside addressing issues related to the renegotiation agreement of the N50 billion approved for payment and the inconsistencies of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPS).
“Our members are hungry. Our members are the downtrodden. They live in poverty.
“The first in line is the four months withheld salaries. By the time I leave here and our members say yes, we have started receiving alerts, then we will sit back and adjust because the other issues are renegotiating the agreement of the N50 billion approved to be paid, the inconsistency of the IPPS,” Hassan stated
The bodies had embarked on a warning strike in March to press home their demands. But deliberations between them and the Federal Government afterward have failed to address the issues.
In June, NASU and SSANU gave the Federal Government a two-week ultimatum to meet their demands and threatened to shut down campuses nationwide if they were not fulfilled
SpyeTV reports that a circular was released over the weekend directing all branch chairmen of the two unions to commence a protest on July 9, 2024, across the state chapters of the federation, and a national protest in Abuja on July 18.
The circular was jointly signed by the General Secretary of NASU and the National President of SSANU, Peters Adeyemi, and Mohammed Ibrahim, respectively.
The unions said the protest follows the recent breakdown of dialogue between the Joint Action Committee of the two bodies and the Ministers of Education and Labour and Employment.