Stanley Ugboaja
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT, Minna) has called on the federal government to pay the salary of its members for the month of March 2022 without further delay.
This was contained in a press release issued to journalists and signed by the Chairman, JAC, FUT, Minna, Comrade Abubakar Aliyu after its well-attended virtual congress held on Monday, April 11, 2022.
Comrade Aliyu frowned at the decision of the Federal Government to withhold the salaries of the non-teaching staff of Nigerian Universities despite the harsh economic realities on the ground, insisting that the strike action embarked upon by the unions was legal.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelConsequently, he appealed to the Federal Government to pay their salary without further delay in order not to worsen the strike action, saying that the policy of “no work, no pay rule” is inconsequential in the context of the ongoing strike.
“The Federal Government should pay us our salaries because it is our sweat. If the government is sincere and fulfilled its part of the bargain there will be no need for the ongoing strike”, he revealed.
The JAC chairman disclosed that the ongoing strike by the unions was a result of the federal government’s refusal to effect the payment of the earned allowances, payment of the consequential minimum wage arrears to its members since 2020,
Provision of a conducive learning and working environment, usurpation of non-teaching career positions by Vice-chancellors, and the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement signed with the unions.
He charged the Federal Government to immediately commence the process of dialogue with the university-based unions in order not to prolong the strike action unnecessarily. According to him, “This will be good in the interest of the nation and the students who have been at home for more than a month”, he stated.
It will be recalled that the non-teaching staff announced the commencement of the two weeks warning strike on the 27th of March, 2022, noting that “no concession should be given in any guise. The national JAC further extended the strike action by another two weeks due to what it described as a nonchalant attitude by the Federal Government to heed to the unions’ demands.
