As Friday (today) entered the third day of the five-day warning strike by non-academic staff at Nigerian universities, the unions threatened an indefinite strike and requested that the federal government release N30bn for payment of their earned allowances.
In a briefing in Abuja on Thursday, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities said that 80% of the N25bn previously distributed to universities was transferred to the Academic Staff Union of Universities “was rather too discriminatory.”
In a briefing by SSANU National Vice-President Solomon Alfa, the Joint Action Committee comprising SSANU and NASU said that the five-day warning strike could snowball into a bigger strike if the government failed to meet their requests.
Last Saturday, the unions announced the beginning of a nationwide one-week warning strike from 19 to 23 August.
The unions said in a letter that the strike was forced by the Federal Government’s reluctance to attend to their requests, which included the payment of their earned allowances, the matter of university staff schools, and the renegotiation of the deal with the unions of the 2019 Federal Government of Nigeria.
The vice president of SSANU, Alfa, said, “You may wish to know that since the beginning of the warning strike, the government has shown no concern to warrant any invitation or intervention. The meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, about two weeks ago did not produce anything convincing to stop this warning strike.
“Finally, the government is hereby advised to expedite actions in addressing the issues raised and any other, in order to avoid the imminent mother of all strikes in the university sector.
“Consequently, the JAC of SSANU and NASU is demanding the sum of N30bn from the Federal Government for payment to the non-teaching staff in order to close the gap it created by the discriminatory allocations.
“Thereafter JAC expects that government will not allow such dichotomy to raise its ugly head in the system again after defraying the balance. This repeated discriminatory practice by the government of the day in favour of ASUU and against the non-teaching staff is not only worrisome, but it has also portrayed the present government as biased, as well as well as causing a division between the teaching and non-teaching staff, which is capable of creating disharmony in the system.”
The unions said they were willing to work with re-appointed Labor Minister Chris Ngige, but he should avoid past mistakes to ensure sector harmony.
Meanwhile, the National Universities Commission released a circular to Federal University Vice-Chancellors on the payment of University Staff School teachers ‘ salaries and arrears – one of the controversial parts of university crises since 2016.
In a circular from the NUC to the vice-chancellors dated August 20, the NUC said the vice-chancellors should liaise with the Federation’s Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General for the release of money to pay the university staff’s schools salary arrears.