The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions have asked the Federal government to give back the salaries they withheld from their members. They gave the government a deadline of seven days to do this.
The salaries were held back by the government during a strike in 2022, which happened during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The unions, in a letter signed jointly by Muhammed Ibrahim, the President of SSANU, and Peters Adeyemi, the General Secretary of NASU, on Friday, questioned why the government gave back four months’ worth of withheld salaries to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities but didn’t do the same for non-academic staff.
They said if the government doesn’t give back the money owed to their members, they can’t promise there won’t be more strikes and disruptions in universities.
Before this, the unions sent letters of protest to Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President, and Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, on February 13, 2024.
They were unhappy that non-teaching staff were left out of the payment of the four months’ worth of outstanding salaries.
In the letter, they said, “We are therefore shocked that two weeks after the letters had been sent and received by the appropriate quarters, the Federal Government has remained quiet and refused to take any step towards addressing this very sensitive issue and it seems as if the Federal Government is taking our maturity for granted.”
They also mentioned that they have tried to keep peace among their members, but if the government doesn’t act soon, they might not be able to stop more disruptions in universities.
They called on the government to act within seven days, or else they might have to take stronger action.
