Strike: SSANU rejects FG’s promises, demands direct payment

The National President of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Mohammed Ibrahim, on Monday, warned that the nationwide strike would continue indefinitely until members of the union receive the payment of their withheld salaries.

Ibrahim disclosed this when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions began an indefinite industrial action on Monday over the Federal Government’s failure to pay the four-month salaries withheld following the 2022 strike by university workers.

When asked if they plan to suspend the strike if the new Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, assured them that the four months withheld salaries would be paid, Ibrahim kicked.

The SSANU president reiterated that they have already had various meetings with four different ministers and are no longer willing to toe that path.

He also insisted that unless their members’ accounts get credited directly, the industrial action would continue.

He said, “I can confirm to you that we were contacted yesterday and this morning by former Minister of State for Education, Dr (Yusuf) Sunomu, who said he was speaking at the instance of the new minister, Dr (Tunji) Alausa. We are scheduled to meet within the week to see how we can sort out this problem.

“But we have made it very clear that we have had meetings with four ministers now. So it is not an issue of meeting. The issue is that we want payment as every procedure has been followed. They can simply direct the payment for the release of this money, and I assure you, in less than 24 hours, we will just refer back to our principals, and this strike will be suspended.

“Assurances are not something we have not received before. So assurances from politicians and government officials are not new things to us. But the mandate we have from our members is that this strike is independent and that we will only resume when we get the alerts for payments.”

According to Ibrahim, they are the first and last port of call in every university and their contributions and relevance cannot be dismissed by anybody.

“The issue is that we even think that these things are done by people who should have known better. University is universal and it is a system. No one can claim to be more important than the other. We are in charge of electricity, water, medical health, student affairs, planning for academics themselves, construction and security in the university.

“So, the first port of call by a student, teacher or visitor is our members. And the last point of the call is also our members. Therefore, no one should look at our job as something that is pedestrian or something that is second-class. So, they should understand that the university has a system that should operate seamlessly and that everybody should be allowed to do their job.”