The Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions has disclosed that it plans to strike in the next three weeks if the federal government fails to pay the outstanding salaries of its members.
The joint unions, in a statement signed on Wednesday by the SSANU President, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, and NASU General Secretary, Prince Peters Adeyemi, explained that an initial grace period was given to the federal government by the union when it demanded that they should pay the salaries with a threat of shutting down the institution. The statement noted that the ultimatum given to the federal government had expired on 26th July 2024 and also claimed that six weeks after the insurance of the ultimatum, the federal government failed to pay the salaries to the workers.
The statement noted after the failure of the government to pay the salaries after the end of the ultimatum, the unions assembled a National JAC of NASU and SSANU in a meeting held on the 12th September 2024, and a final deadline was issued to the government which will expire in the next three weeks which begins on 17th September 2024, to pay the outstanding salaries and further implement the other agreements that the association has had with the government on 20th August 2022. It was disclosed that if the federal government workers fail to pay the salaries and honour the agreement in the next few weeks, the members of the union will be forced to embark on an indefinite strike.
The statement further noted that in a recent meeting when the new minimum wage was negotiated, President Bola Tinubu had approved the payment of the four months’ withheld salaries on 18th July 2024, the directives according to the statement after the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress had discussions with the president.
The leadership of the union in the statement also revealed that in a recent time, the president had given a go-ahead for the actual release of the withheld salaries by the authorities, have failed to pay the salaries despite the approvals and the directives by the president.
The statement noted that the union was demanding the release of the salaries which was noted payed for four months. Also the union noted that the union was demanding an mproved remuneration, earned allowances, and the implementation of the 2009 agreements with the government.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment, led by Dr Chris Ngige during the president Buhari administration, had imposed the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy on the four university-based unions when a long strike was embarked upon in 2022.
