EXCLUSIVE: NASU, SSANU hold meetings over withheld salaries as calls for strike intensify

Members of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) arrived on Wednesday at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State, for a two-day meeting to review their stance on the anticipated industrial action over the non-payment of their members’ withheld salaries.

Similarly, various branches of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have called for congresses to address the issue ahead of a meeting of the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU leadership scheduled for Thursday, 4 July.

SSANU National President, Mohammed Ibrahim, who confirmed the NEC meeting to PREMIUM TIMES, lamented what he described as the unfair treatment of its members by the government.

He said it was unfortunate that the government “mistook for weakness or cowardice its members’ understanding and act of patriotism that led to the suspension of the industrial action in 2022”.

The leadership of the two unions had written on Wednesday, 19 June, to the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, threatening to order the withdrawal of their members from their duty posts should the government fail to pay the workers’ withheld salaries.

The letter with reference number JAC/NS/VOL.III/01 was written under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU and NASU and signed by SSANU President Mohammed Ibrahim and the National Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi.

The government, through the Minister of Education and his Minister of State counterpart – Tahir Mamman and Yusuf Sununu, respectively, on Wednesday met with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resolve some grey areas as contained in the union’s press statements shared by the leadership of its various zones.

However, both SSANU and NASU members said the government has opted to dare the consequences “of its preferential treatment of one union over the others,” especially considering Wednesday’s meeting with ASUU.

They said there are no reasons not to embark on a nationwide indefinite strike, even as they condemned the government for “pushing us to the wall.”

Backstory

In March, the two unions embarked on a one-week warning strike over the withheld salaries of their members.

The matter is a spillover crisis from the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, which withheld four months’ salaries of the members of the unions for the period they downed tools between May and August 2022.

The SSANU and NASU’s academic counterpart- ASUU, which stayed away from work for more than seven months, also had its members’ salaries withheld due to the government’s introduction of the “no work, no pay rule”.

However, the new administration of President Bola Tinubu ordered the payment of parts of the salaries. Still, only ASUU members received pay for four months out of their about eight months’ withheld salaries. The members of SSANU and NASU were not paid for any of the outstanding months.

JAC said it wrote to the education minister, Mr Mamman, and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, but has yet to receive a response, prompting it to decide on a one-week warning strike in March.

New threat

The unions said, despite various letters, engagements, and assurances from the government, the withheld salaries remain unpaid, leading to growing frustration among the workers.

“We view it as an act of insincerity and neglect on the part of the government to the yearnings and aspirations of our members. This also negates the spirit of collective bargaining and builds distrust,” the union wrote in the letter.

JAC noted that the government’s deafening silence and failure to pay the withheld salaries is “creating a high level of agitations and contentions among our members in the universities and inter-university centres such that we can no longer guarantee industrial peace and harmony on university campuses.”

They also cautioned that failure to comply not later than two weeks from the date of the correspondence will leave them with no option but to “shut down the universities and inter-university centres.”

SSANU NEC meeting

The NEC meeting of SSANU comprises the union’s branch chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers, zonal chairpersons, secretaries and treasurers, and national officers. It serves as the supreme organ of the union but takes directives from the branch congresses.

According to the union President, Mr Ibrahim, the meeting, scheduled between Thursday and Friday, will appraise the issues and make recommendations for the various branches to discuss at the congresses.

The President, however, said he could not preempt the decision of its members, but “I am sure that my members are agitated because their patriotism has been taken for cowardice.”

The Chairman of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) chapter of the union, Olusola Falowo, confirmed that his chapter would hold its congress on Monday to consider the recommendations at the NEC.

“Almost every other chapter will do the same between Monday and Tuesday ahead of the JAC meeting scheduled for Thursday. As I am talking to you now, the NASU congress is holding in my school over the same matter,” Mr Falowo said.

Other union members who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on the condition of anonymity confirmed that there was no going back on the decision to declare an indefinite strike. They said three months after the suspension of the warning strike, the government has refused to accede to their demands.