lkm…says our patience running out
…accuse govt of undue favoritism to ASUU
OSAS EMMANUEL
ABUJA, Nigeria – Non-teaching staff in the Nigerian Universities have said that it can no longer guarantee industrial harmony following the government’s refusal to pay her members the four moths withheld salaries.
The university based unions of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), issued the threat yesterday in their separate press briefing in Abuja.
This is as the told the Federal Government that their patience was running out over their exclusion in the payment of the four months withheld salaries.
Consequently, the two non teaching staff unions have given the government one week to address the issue, threatening that the Joint Action Committee, JAC, of the unions will meet thereafter to take a final decision which they said will be withdrawal of their services.
Recall that SSANU and NASU had on Friday last week, issued a seven day ultimatum to the government to pay them their withheld salaries as they paid to the teaching staff, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, SSANU President, Comrade Mohammed Ibrahim said that President Bola Tinubu in his wisdom, decided to grant a waiver for the payment of four months of the withheld salaries, but expressed dismay that the non teaching staff were yet to be paid.
He said that the non teaching staff were taken aback when they realized that their colleagues in ASUU had been paid despite the fact that the approval by the President was for the entire staff in public universities.
“This is giving a lot of concern. Here we are working in the same environment. We went on the same strike, and we struck a deal and signed an agreement. And the president of a country granted a waiver to pay the money. And then members of NASU and SSANU were kept at bay. So we reached out to the Minister of Education, and he did assure us that the approval of Mr. President was for all workers in the public universities, especially the ones in the federal universities, as this case is concerned because our patience is clearly running out.
“We are meeting within the next seven days to take a final decision. But we said that we should reach out to the world so that at the end of the day, nobody will blame us to say that we just decided to down tools, but clearly with the current economic situation in the country, with the way things are going, our members are finding it very difficult.
“After the strike and the withholding of the salaries, we lost so many members as a result of their inability to meet up with their medicals. A lot of our members were sent out of their rented apartments. Some of our children were sent out of school because we could not pay school fees.
“We are using this medium to call on the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation, and all that matter in this issue to see reason and release the four months alary of members of the non teaching staff, SSANU and NASU.”
Similarly, the General Secretary of NASU, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, accused the Federal Government of undue favouritism to ASUU) in the payment of the four months withheld salaries, when all unions joined an indefinite strike.
He warned of grave consequences, threatening that they might be compelled to down tools within a week, if the government failed to issue a directive instructing the Accountant General of the Federation to pay their members the four months salaries as well.
A visibly angry Adeyemi pointed out that NASU signed four agreements with the Buhari administration, under the leadership of the then Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, regretting that the agreements were not honoured.
