SSANU, NASU protest, threaten strike action over withheld salaries

Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, Federal University Lokoja, FUL, staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday to demand the payment of their withheld four-month salaries by the Federal Government.

The two unions, while expressing their displeasure over the inability of the present administration to pay their outstanding salaries, vowed that they would not have any other option than to go on total strike if the Federal Government refused to meet their demands.

The protest, which was held at the main campus of the university in the Felele area of Lokoja, witnessed a large turnout of members of the two unions.

The protesting workers marched through the campus with placards bearing various inscriptions, calling on the Federal Government to release their withheld salaries and implement their other outstanding demands.

Addressing members, the chairman of SSANU, FUL branch, Comrade Adedeji Kazeem Suarau, called on the Federal Government to hasten the implementation of their demands to avoid a total breakdown of university education.

He said the withheld salaries were due to the implementation of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ policy of the government under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Suarau said: “All the university unions went on strike in 2022 because the then President Muhammadu Buhari invoked the no-work, no-pay rule.”

He said when President Tinubu came on board, he pardoned and gave approval that the withheld salaries be paid, but to their dismay, their sister union, ASUU, members were paid while the other non-teaching staff were left out.

He said that after inquiries, SSANU and NASU were told that approval was still being expected but up until now, the Federal Government has refused to pay.

He said the promotion arrears of members of the two unions have also been lingering since 2018, saying some members were paid while many were left out.

“The economy is biting on our members as even the wage awards to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy was not being paid, running into four months,” he said.

He urged the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility by paying all their outstanding salaries and allowances.