Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) have concluded their seven-day warning strike, marking a temporary halt to their protest over withheld salaries.
In a circular addressed to branch chairmen at public universities nationwide, SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, instructed members to return to work starting Monday, March 25, 2024.
The strike, which commenced on March 18, 2024, saw employees in crucial departments such as registry, bursary, works and maintenance, security, and students’ affairs withdrawing their services.
This resulted in a complete administrative shutdown across public universities in Nigeria, with locked hostels, closed varsity gates, and interrupted electricity supply.
The primary grievance prompting the strike was the failure of the Federal Government to disburse withheld salaries to non-academic staff, while the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) received theirs. SSANU and NASU accused the government of unfair treatment and discrimination in salary payment.
This recent strike follows an eight-month industrial action embarked upon by all university unions in 2022, aiming to address various demands, including improved welfare conditions.
Although President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy in response, President Bola Tinubu later approved the release of four out of the eight months’ withheld salaries last October.
Despite criticism from Labour Minister Nkiruka Onyejeocha, who deemed the strike action as a total disregard for the Federal Government’s concerted effort to address their concerns.
However, SSANU and NASU said upon evaluation of the seven-day warning strike, “the tempo of the warning strike has been massive, comprehensive and total in most of our universities and inter-universities centres”.
They saluted the “dedication, resoluteness and loyalty of members to the cause of the union’s struggle for the payment of four months’ withheld salaries”.
“Consequently, you are hereby informed that the seven-day warning strike shall end at midnight of Sunday, 24th March 2024 and normal work will resume on Monday, 25th March 2024,” the circular partly read.
SSANU and NASU assured members that the struggle for the payment of the withheld salaries are ongoing.
The unions promised to continue “meaningful engagement with the relevant Government Agencies in both Executive and Legislative Arms” and notify members of the next line of action(s) to be taken.
