The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union have jointly declared a 7-day warning strike starting 18th march to demand the payment of four months’ withheld salaries for their members following the 2022 nationwide strike.
The decision to embark on the warning strike was reached by the joint action committee of the two unions during a meeting held in Akure over the weekend.
President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, announced the resolution in a Communiqué delivered to journalists in Abuja on Monday, citing the strike as a final recourse after numerous protest letters and engagements with the Federal Government failed to yield the release of the outstanding salaries.
President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim who read the Communiqué of the meeting to journalists in Abuja on Monday, noted that the decision to embark on the warning strike was taken as a last resort, since several protest letters and other communications with the Federal Government did not result in the payment of the withheld salaries.
The statement added: “If nothing is done by the federal government to positively address this situation and respond to our previous letters to them, the members of the two unions may be forced to meet soon to take all lawful and stringent decisions on the matter.”
The fresh development comes on the heels of the unions accusing FG of treating their members with “disdain”.
President Bola Tinubu had directed the payment of withheld salaries for university workers owing to their strike of 2022.
However, SSANU, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) said they were yet to get salaries for the said period, and had issued a one-week ultimatum about two weeks ago.
President Mohammed Ibrahim expressed disappointment on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, accusing the government of neglecting the non-teaching staff and emphasizing their crucial role in university operations.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and NASU emphasized that they had exhausted all avenues to maintain industrial peace, but the failure to address their salary concerns could jeopardize harmony on university campuses.
