Withheld Salaries: Again, SSANU, NASU threaten indefinite strike

The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and other Allied Institutions (NASU) has issued a fresh three-week ultimatum, threatening to commence an indefinite strike should the government fail to pay members’ withheld salaries.

This would be the third time in a year the two unions would threaten to embark on indefinite strike over the unresolved salaries of their members withheld by the Nigerian government in 2022 during a prolonged strike.

In a statement dated 13 September, the unions expressed frustration at the government’s failure to pay four months’ withheld salaries and alleged refusal to implement key agreements from the 2022 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

The statement was signed by the NASU General Secretary, Peters Adeyemi, and the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim.

The statement noted that despite a six-week ultimatum issued in August, no action has been taken by the government to address these concerns, prompting the unions to issue what it termed “a final warning.”

“The meeting was shocked that almost 6 weeks after the ultimatum given to the government has elapsed, nothing concrete has come forth in respect of payment of the withheld salaries and the implementation of the agreement reached in Year 2022,” the statement reads in parts.

Unmet demands

The unions’ demands include the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN-university workers’ agreement, payment of N50 billion as part payment of earned allowances, funding for state universities, a review of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and a uniform career structure for non-teaching staff across universities.

The National Vice President of SSANU, Abdussobur Abdulsalam, during a phone interview with PREMIUM TIMES explained that the unions had previously suspended the strike in 2022 based on the government’s commitment to these demands.

However, he said the government has failed to honour the promises.

“We signed an MOU with the government but till now, none of the agreement has been implemented. We were denied four months’ salaries when the strike was suspended in 2022,” he said.

Mr Abdulsalaam said the unions recently staged protests demanding the payment of their arrears, but no progress has been made despite the directives from the the federal government

“Two months ago, we staged a protest and the federal government directed that we should be paid our four months arrears, two months after we are yet to get any notification of any form of payment with a back and forth between the office of the minister of education and minister of finance,” he added.

Background

The grievances of SSANU and NASU could be traced back to a 2009 agreement that has seen little implementation.

Renegotiations of the agreement began in 2014 but have dragged on for years, with delays occurring since 2017.

Mr Abdulsalaam noted that different committees, including the one led by the former Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, Wale Babalakin, was established to negotiate and address the issues with the government.

Since his removal as the chairman of the committee and the governing council chairman of University of Lagos, others including the one led by the late former Vice-Chanceelor of the University of Portharcout- Nimi Briggs, a professor, have consistently spoke about the issues.

He said, “The Babalakin committee was set up in 2017 and since then we have been having a series of engagements but the government has been stalling in so many ways.”

Final ultimatum

In the press statement, the unions announced a ‘final three-week ultimatum’ starting from 17 September 2024, warning that if their demands are not met, they will commence an indefinite strike.

“It is in view of this that the leadership of JAC decided to put all our members in all branches of Universities and Inter-University Centres on notice that the Federal Government has been given a final ultimatum of 3 weeks from Tuesday, 17th September, 2024, to pay the withheld 4 months salaries and fully implement the agreement reached on 20th August, 2022, failing which members should proceed on indefinite strike action at the end of the expiration of the final ultimatum.”