KEY POINTS
- SSANU and NASU begin strike, Federal universities close.
- The strike was over four months of unpaid salaries during the 2022 shutdown.
- Government disappointed as it urges unions to cooperate with new committee.
Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and allied Institutions (NASU) have shut down federal universities across the country by embarking on an indefinite strike, protesting four months of salary withholding.
The unions say the universities owe them payment for the withheld wages during the 2022 universities shutdown that impacted nearly 2.1 million students.
SSANU, NASU strike halts federal universities nationwide
Olugbenga Adenaiya, the Chairman of the SSANU branch at UNILAG, told journalists that his members have fully committed to the strike and have suspended essential services.
“We cannot be treated like slaves in our country.” He said that the government failed to pay the promised salaries and declared,
Discontent as government calls for union cooperation
Unions’ decision to boycott classes has disappointed the Federal Government, which asserted that it had set up a new committee ‘yesterday’ to look into their concerns.
The government is expecting a restrained approach from SSANU and NASU, and we are ready to cooperate, according to Folasade Boriowo, Director of Press and Public Affairs in the Federal Ministry of Education.
However, union leaders insist that the government has broken previous promises, prompting the industrial action.
Branches in FUTA and other federal universities as well as UNILAG indicate that they have fully complied with the strike action as they are not currently performing critical academic and administrative functions.
According to Vanguard, The unions are steadfast in they demands for fair treatment and pay, and students and staff wait for more developments to arise.
