THE threat of a two-week warning strike from March 27, 2022 by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) if their demands were not met is set to totally ground activities in Nigerian universities.
At the moment, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is in the second month of their three-month initial strike after a deadlock in talks with the federal government. ASUU had commenced its strike with an initial four-week warning strike on February 14th 2022 but was forced to extend it by two months when the federal government felt unconcerned about resolving the disagreement that led to the strike.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and NASU in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, accused the federal government of insincerity in its implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) reached in October 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
The letter, written at the end of a meeting of JAC held last Wednesday to appraise the implementation of the agreements it had with the government, and signed by Comrade Peters Adeyemi, NASU’s General Secretary, and Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim, SSANU’s National President, gave the federal government up to March 27, 2022 to address the demands or face warning strike for two weeks.
The unions’ demands include the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, payment of earned allowances, usurpation of non-academic career positions by vice-chancellors, inclusion of university staff school into the university community, non-payment of minimum wage arrears, and funding of state universities.
JAC has therefore put members of SSANU and NASU on ‘red alerts’ by asking them to prepare for a possible showdown with the government.
“In view of this, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU arising from its meeting is hereby using this opportunity through your exalted office to give the Federal Government up to Sunday, 27th March, 2022 to do the needful in respect of our members’ agitations, failing which we would have no other option than to direct our members in the Universities and Inter-University Centres in Nigeria to proceed on 2 weeks warning strike in the first instance to drive home demands of our members in the Universities and Inter-University Centres.
“The meeting was shocked that 2 weeks after giving the Federal Government an ultimatum, nothing tangible has come out of it and that Government has not even acknowledged the letter with a response as expected.
“Relating to this is our letter dated 1st March, 2022 in respect of same, in which nothing has come out of it despite the fact that JAC has given 21 days ultimatum to the Federal Government in respect of our members’ grievances and agitations on the non-implementation of the agreements,” JAC’s letter reads in part.
