On Monday, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union announced a seven-day warning strike.
The unions stated the proclamation was issued to demand that the Federal Government pay its members’ withholding salary for four months following the 2022 nationwide strike.
The decision was part of a resolution passed by the two unions’ joint action committee at a meeting in Akure over the weekend.
According to SSANU president Mohammed Ibrahim, who read the meeting’s communiqué to journalists in Abuja on Monday, the decision to go on strike was made as a last resort after several protest letters and other communications with the Federal Government failed to result in the payment of withheld salaries.
The statement went on to say: “If nothing is done by the Federal Government to positively address this situation and respond to our previous letters to them, the members of the two unions may be forced to meet soon to take all lawful and stringent decisions on the matter”.
The latest development comes after the unions accused FG of treating their members with “disdain”.
President Bola Tinubu directed the payment of withheld salaries for university employees due to their 2022 strike.
However, SSANU, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) stated that they had yet to receive salaries for the specified period and had issued a one-week ultimatum roughly two weeks ago.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the SSANU leader accused the FG of abandoning the unions.
“We have to speak like this because we have been clearly shown that we do not matter in the system. But we all know that no university can function without the non-teaching staff because we are majorly populated by professionals. We own the engine of the administration of every university. They are treating this segment of staff with some disdain. It does not speak good of the system,” he said during the show.
SSANU and NASU said they have done everything within their powers to prevail on their members to maintain industrial peace and tranquillity.
“While we appreciate the Federal Government for paying our academic counterpart, we also deem it necessary that our members are also paid,” the statement said, adding that the unions could no longer guarantee industrial harmony on the campuses should the government fail to pay them.