The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have said they will not discontinue their strike action until their demands are met.
The two unions embarked on an indefinite strike on Monday over non-payment of their four-month salary arrears. SSANU president Mohammed Ibrahim said the industrial action would cease when their demands are met.
“So, it’s not the issue of meeting. The issue is that we want payment and that every procedure has been followed. They can just simply direct for this payment and I assure you in less than 24 hours, we can just
refer back to our principals and this strike will be suspended,” the SSANU chief said on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Well, assurances are not something that we have not received before. So, assurances from politicians and government officials are not new things to us. But the mandate that we have from our members is that this strike is totally indefinite and that we will only resume when we get the alerts.”
The actions taken by the unions have resulted in a significant halt to operations at public universities in Nigeria, with classes and other services suspended.
On September 17, 2023, the Joint Action Committee of SSANU and NASU set a three-week deadline for the Nigerian Government to pay the outstanding salaries owed to their members or risk industrial action.
Before now, the two unions had held several protests and warning strikes over the issue of eight months’ worth of unpaid salaries. During the strike, all administrative functions within public universities across Nigeria ceased. Dormitories and university entrances were locked, and dissatisfied non-academic staff interrupted the power supply.
The two unions criticised the Nigerian Government for releasing withheld salaries to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) while neglecting the non-academic unions.