Gabriella Ogbu<\/p>\n
The Joint Action Committee of the Non-academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to pay four months of withheld salaries. If the arrears, covering the period from May to August 24, 2022, are not paid, union members have threatened to resign.<\/p>\n
The unions addressed their grievances to Professor Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, in a letter dated June 19, 2024, urging immediate payment of the outstanding salaries. The letter, co-signed by Comrade Peters Adeyemi, the Secretary-General of NASU, and Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, the President of SSANU, expressed frustration over the government’s prolonged silence and inaction despite multiple requests and a warning strike earlier this year.<\/p>\n
“The Honourable Minister would recall that the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU initiated a one-week warning strike between March 18 and 24, 2024, in protest of the refusal to pay the arrears of four months’ salaries withheld between May and August 24, 2022,” the letter stated.<\/p>\n
The unions highlighted their ongoing efforts to resolve the issue through various letters and engagements, which they feel have been ignored. “We write to remind the Honourable Minister of our various letters, engagements, and assurances towards the payment of the four months withheld salary of SSANU and NASU. This is in response to a series of letters and the assurances of payment,” the letter continued.<\/p>\n
Expressing their disappointment, the unions described the government’s inaction as a betrayal. “We are shocked and disappointed that our members have not yet received their withheld salaries. This situation undermines the government’s sincerity and disregards the desires and goals of our constituents. It fosters mistrust and undermines the spirit of collective bargaining.”<\/p>\n
The letter warned of potential industrial action if the arrears are not paid. “We can no longer guarantee industrial peace and harmony on university campuses due to the high level of agitations and disputes among our members in the universities and Inter-University Centers caused by the government’s deafening silence and failure to pay the withheld salaries,” it read.<\/p>\n
In a final demand, the unions called for the immediate payment of the withheld salaries. “We therefore demand the immediate payment of the four months withheld salaries to our members; failing which we will be left with no option but to shut down the Universities and Inter-University Centers.” The unions have given the government until July 3, 2024, to meet their demands.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, ASUU Benin Zone has voiced strong disapproval over the lack of staff salary reviews, pointing out that the last review occurred fifteen years ago. This has led to mounting frustration among university lecturers, who are now threatening to go on strike if their demands are not met.<\/p>\n
In a statement titled “On the Unresolved Issues Between the Federal Government and ASUU: The Government is Begging ASUU to Go on Strike,” the union expressed its discontent in Benin City. Professor Monday Igbafen, the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU’s Benin Zone, highlighted the disparity between the pay reviews of other sectors and the stagnant salaries of university lecturers since 2009, when the naira to dollar exchange rate was N120.<\/p>\n
“Since 2009, when the naira was at N120 to the dollar and salaries in other sectors had undergone two or more reviews, university instructors in Nigeria have been paid under the same salary structure. It is more accurate to suppose that a professor at a Nigerian law school makes, on average, $400 per month\u2014a very low salary for a scholar,” Igbafen said.<\/p>\n
Igbafen criticized the government for maintaining the same salary regime for 15 years without review, calling it “wicked and inhuman” and a recipe for industrial disharmony. He indicated that the union had reached a breaking point and hinted at imminent industrial action, listing several demands that the federal government had failed to address.<\/p>\n
“It is unfortunate to note that, barely a month after our engagement with the press at DELSU, the government is refusing to listen to our union’s demands and ultimatum, i.e., it has completely turned a deaf ear to the competing issues,” Igbafen lamented. He expressed frustration over the federal and state governments’ apparent lack of sincerity in addressing issues that have worsened the living and working conditions of academic staff in public universities.<\/p>\n
“The government’s current attitude is undoubtedly not a good prescription for the looming paralysis that Nigeria’s public universities are experiencing. The government’s appalling inability to carry out the 2009 FGN\/ASUU agreement satisfactorily is the root of the persistent problems between our union and the government,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gabriella Ogbu The Joint Action Committee of the Non-academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to pay four months of withheld salaries. If the arrears, covering the period from May to August 24, 2022, are not paid, union […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35728,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35722\/revisions\/35728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}