The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) have today, Monday, commenced a nationwide strike over alleged unfair treatment and inequality in the payment of withheld salaries by the Federal Government.
“Definitely, it (the strike) has already started,” SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim declared on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Monday.
“As at today (Monday), all our workers in registry, bursary, works and maintenance, secruity, students’ affairs have withdrawn their services, and nothing moves within the administration of any public university in Nigeria and that will be the case for the next seven days until and unless the needful is done.”
He regretted that no government representative had approached the non-academic unions and that their guarantees could not be transferred to the bank, although some had done so unofficially.
Ibrahim realized that there were some “saboteurs” in his government and wondered why President Bola Tinubu ordered that university union members be paid the arrears for 2022 and that some government officials did not fully comply.
The SSANU President said Labor Minister Nkiruka Onyejeocha had not contacted the aggrieved unions despite a seven-day communication last Monday, which he said was a change in the responsiveness of former Labor Minister Chris Ngige.
Ibrahim said if the government did not respond to the unions’ demands after the seven-day warning strike that began today, SSANU and NASU would return to their resources and decide how to proceed.
