NASU, SSANU issue two two-week ultimatum over four months withheld salaries
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.
Meanwhile, academic activities in federal universities may be disrupted in the next two weeks if the four months’ outstanding salaries of non-teaching staff members are not paid.
The Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) conveyed this development in a letter to the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, yesterday.
The two unions also threatened to shut down federal university centres if the government failed to pay the withheld salaries at the expiration of the two-week ultimatum.
The two unions accused the government of negating the spirit of collective bargaining which has built distrust, saying, “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 University campuses.”
